Reality Fracture
by Darkmoose84
Summary: With Ludo in control of Glossaryk and Star's book, what havok can he wreak now? Dimensional rips everywhere! He's set to take back Mewni and get his revenge on Earth for all the times he's been foiled. Star and friends split up to find where Ludo is and where he could attack next. Some Starco and Jarco, but it won't be THE plot.
1. Enter the Tunnels

"Over the fiery frontier of my realms\I will advance a terrible right arm\Shall scare that infant thunderer, rebel Jove,\And bid old Saturn take his throne again." – John Keats, "Hyperion"

"Well, if you're not a 'm'lady,'" Glossaryk said to Ludo after seeing who opened the book to the cool Mewnian air, "Then we have nothing to talk about. Magical princesses only! Goodbye!"

"Oh no you don't, little man!" Ludo shouted, tearing open the book again, "I stole you fair and square, and you are going to listen to me!" Ludo continued to turn page after page, but Glossaryk continued to shift his temporal existence through the book in an attempt to avoid seeing Ludo's ugly face once more.

"Oh, no," Glossaryk responded, "That's not how this works. You see, while I'm still bound to this book, as a djinn is bound to its lamp, I still have free will enough to choose who I help. And I know dang skippy you would seek to use my help to further attack the Butterfly family."

Ludo furiously flew through the pages of the book until at last he found Glossaryk floating between a page that was burned out for some reason. He pulled out his makeshift wand and aimed it directly at the small magician.

"Ah, but my clever little sage," he hissed, "That's exactly what you're going to do!" With that, Ludo fired a green bolt from the wand directly into the gem on Glossaryk's head, who proceeded to howl in agonizing pain. The energy continued to feed into Glossaryk's head, and Ludo could feel the spell's power overtaking him as well as he channeled it. He muttered the phrase "Actus Coniuratio" although he had no idea why or what the phrase meant; it was entirely involuntary.

When the spell ended, Glossaryk's eyes were glowing green as well as his head gem. Drool leaked from the side of his mouth. It was clear he was under Ludo's will.

"That's better," Ludo croaked, smiling at his accomplishment, "Now, you will give me all the information your tome has to hold. It's time we knock those Mewnian's off their high horse and take back the land and resources they took from us. It's time we make Mewni great again."

"Yes, sire," the zombified Glossaryk moaned.

The kids sat on the stairs of the Walt Disney Concert Hall on the same corner next to The Broad. The Saturday morning sun had almost completely risen and was for the most part visible. That didn't stop the normally busy downtown. But the normal hustle and bustle was of little concern to them as they thought about what to do next.

Star rocked back and forth, still reeling from what had happened last night. There was now a gaping hole within her, a feeling of something (or even multiple things) missing from her life now. Her tome, the very thing she was using to better herself and a symbol of her identity, was gone. Would Marco be next, the benevolent force that was Jackie's affection stealing him away from her?

Marco sat next to her and desperately wanted to comfort her. He saw Jackie walking back up the steps with a tray of coffee for the four of them; he wasn't sure how Jackie would feel about him putting his arm around her. Instead, he simply patted her on the shoulder.

Jackie of course saw this and was wondering why he wasn't comforting his friend even more. Him giving her another hug would have been perfectly understandable. If he wouldn't, she would. She handed Janna her coffee, who looked as though she were deeply fixated on what she was researching on her laptop, and proceeded up to where Star and Marco were seated. She handed Marco his coffee, gave him a wink, and after handing Star hers, she sat the drink holder behind them and placed her hands on Star's shoulders.

"It'll be alright," Jackie said, massaging Star's shoulders, "just breathe with me, okay? Just relax and breathe." Star stopped rocking and tried to follow Jackie's instruction, slowing her breathing to synchronize with hers. While she wasn't sure how to feel about Jackie right now, her presence was welcoming and calming. "We're going to get through this together. Hey, we've come this far as friends and have been through some horrible stuff. While yeah, I feel like I'm in over my head with all this magic stuff you guys normally deal with, I'm not about to abandon you all in this. While we may take a few breaks here and there to rest and clear our heads, we're not going to sit on this problem you're having."

"Yeah, Star," Marco continued Jackie's words, "I promised we'd get the book and Glossaryk back, and that's what we're going to do, no matter what it takes." Both girls looked over at Marco and gave him equally warm smiles.

"And we'll send Ludo back to whatever crap heap he came from," Janna shouted over her shoulder, looking away from her computer for a moment. She had a book from which she was taking notes while also looking at the laptop screen.

"But of course the question is, where do we start?" Marco asked rhetorically.

"I may have a few ideas," Janna said, skimming through a book on electromagnetism, along with Tobin's Spirit Guide.

"And we couldn't meet up at a library or something because…?"

"It's relaxing here," Janna answered, the roar of traffic still echoing through the air, "I wanted to see what it would look like to see how the morning sun hit these buildings. Plus, I wanted to head over to the civic center later; there's something there I want to check out."

Jackie continued to rub Star's shoulders, and while she had calmed down a slight bit, there was still something else that was clearly wrong. She realized her otherworldly friend hadn't said a word all day, and she was definitely not normally this quiet.

Could this have something to do with her and Marco's date last night? Was Star jealous?

No, it couldn't be. Star had been head over heels for that Oskar weirdo for the past year now; with as much time that had passed between Star and Marco, if something were to have happened between them, it would have happened already, right? At least, that's what Jackie told herself, but in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but picture a small red thread that tied Star and Marco together, one on which she was stepping.

At the very least, Jackie thought she might know what to say to her to bring her out of this funk.

"Hey, Star," Jackie said, a warm quality in her tone, all the while moving down to sit on the stair in front of her. She held her by the hands and looked up into her eyes. Star was crying again, and it made Jackie all the more disheartened. Still, she wouldn't let that deter her from trying to cheer Star.

"Marco, can you take a look at this with me?" Janna asked and beckoned him to join her at the laptop, "I've got a plan I'd like to go over with you." Marco was still watching as Star began to tear up again, albeit still in silence. It pained him to see her like this, but he was happy that Jackie was making some effort to reach out to her. He walked down the stairs to join Janna's research.

Jackie continued with her efforts.

"Listen," she said, "I know things are rough right now, but they're going to get better. Think about the ocean for a sec, the way it moves. It's constantly changing and always flowing into some other new current. One minute, it'll be rough and stormy, but the next, it'll be calm and smooth. Life moves the same way. One thing I learned is that you just have to go with the flow and just chillax. These rough waves will pass." Star gave Jackie her signature smile, an aura of peace now surrounding the two girls. "Trust me, I love watching the ocean. Used to go down to Venice Beach a lot; their skate park is one of the best in the area."

"You're right, Wacky Jackie!" Star exclaimed at last, "Being all gloom and doom just isn't me. Besides, I've been through worse...I think...But we'll all get through this together!"

Jackie wondered to herself what part of her Star thought to be wacky, but she wasn't about to ask.

"I think Janna's come up with a plan," Marco said, walking back up the stairs, sipping his coffee.

"Alright," Janna began, closing her laptop and gathering her books, "So I'm thinking that we first need to find out where this jerk-face Ludo is hiding. Star, I think it's going to be best if you hop through wherever your scissors take you and scour around. Another group is going to stay here on Earth and watch for wherever he's going to pop up next."

"How are we going to predict that?" Marco interjected, cutting her off, "Those scissors can take him just about anywhere Star goes at any random time he feels like it."

"That's what I was reading up on," Janna retorted, slightly annoyed, "I've been reading about inter-dimensional rifts and how to possibly track where the last were. The most recently studied case I found on this was something that happened four years ago in a small town in Oregon called Gravity Falls. The official story was that there was a massive EMP of unknown origin, but eyewitness accounts said otherwise. What I'm thinking is that the holes your scissors tear in reality are smaller versions of what happened there. And with this new app on my phone, I can track where these things are either occurring or recently occurred."

"Someone made an app that just targets inter-dimensional portals?" Marco asked, puzzled.

"...Yes," Janna replied, "It totally makes sense. No shortage of conspiracy and paranormal nuts out there."

"So where do we start?" Jackie asked.

"Well, I know where I'm starting," Star proclaimed, pulling out her scissors and tearing open a gateway, "Clean Mewni air, here I come!"

"Marco, you should go with her," Janna said, pushing him up the stairs in Star's direction.

"Oh, sure, but I..." Marco stammered and looked in Jackie's direction.

"Couldn't Marco and I…?" Jackie muttered.

"These two know Mewni way better than we do," Janna addressed Jackie, "It only makes sense they should be the ones to search for Ludo. Also, I think it'll be good for Star to spend some time with her 'best friend.'" Janna then walked over and grabbed Jackie by the shoulders. "Plus, Miss Tony Hawk and I need to catch up."

"Makes sense," Marco said, "Come on, Star." He patted her on the shoulder. "Let's go kick some monster butt."

"Oh, gladly," Star responded, "I think I'll feel ten times better after I've blasted a few monsters."

"Just be careful, okay?" Jackie implored, a nervous look on her face.

"You, too," Marco replied. As the two looked longingly at each other, Star couldn't help but feel that same familiar sickness in the pit of her stomach. Her hands shook, and her lip quivered. She soon composed herself and, without saying a word, pushed a non-responsive Marco through the portal before following him through it.

Star then popped her head and arm back through the portal. "Bye," she yelped before giving a wave and a seemingly cheerful smile (although it felt a little artificial). She then retreated back into the portal before it closed and disappeared.

"I hope they'll be okay," Jackie said.

"They've done this sort of thing a hundred times," Janna responded reassuringly, "They'll be fine." Jackie gave her a slight smile and a nod.

"You're right," she said. She still kept her cool demeanor, but there was still the slight nagging feeling she couldn't shake, and for the first time, she wondered if it was a good idea for Star and Marco to be alone together. She shook it off, not letting it get to her. "So I guess we're heading to the Civic Center?"

"Well, close by there," Janna said, "Supposedly its underneath the department of regional planning. My app was telling me that's where the strongest energy pull was."

"Good distance away," Jackie said, "But I should be able to get us there in no time." She grabbed her skateboard and helmet. She had brought an extra one for Janna which she then tossed to her. Janna caught it in mid air and immediately snapped it on. "Lets get going." She climbed on her skateboard, and Janna followed suit, holding Jackie around the waist. She kicked off and proceeded down the now sunlit sidewalk of Grand Ave.

One thing she loved about skateboarding was the rush it gave her. The cool rush of wind, the velocity of travel, and the feeling that the world zoomed passed her as she zoomed passed it was unmatched. She felt free, wild, and energized when going full speed on her board. There was nothing like it.

She crossed the street to get to the other sidewalk, and then crossed the intersection to get to the next sidewalk. From there, she closed her eyes and felt the force of kinetic energy as she zoomed passed building after building.

"Woah, eyes on the sidewalk, girl," Janna yelled. With that, Jackie opened her eyes and leaped over a small crack in the road. Janna held on tighter, careful not to fall off the board. They then rounded the corner into the Civic Center, moving passed grassy knolls and trees.

"So I wanted to ask," Janna continued, "All otherworldly craziness aside, how was your night with Marco?"

"Oh, it was great," Jackie swooned, "I got to introduce him to skateboarding, and then we closed the night with a monster fight, and...we shared a kiss."

"Wow, already?" Janna asked rhetorically, "You must really like him."

"Yeah, I think I do."

"Just be careful, okay," Janna muttered, thinking about Star.

"What do you mean?"

"I've just got a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"Now it's my turn to tell you not to worry," Jackie said, rounding a corner and skating past a few more pedestrians and grassy areas full of people playing frisbee and picnicking, even this early in the morning. "We just started dating. And really, all I want to do is just kind of go with it. He's a good guy."

A guy I think Star already claimed without saying it, Janna thought to herself.

Jackie and Janna continued through the civic center and crossed Hill Street. They rolled on through the gorgeous green knolls until they at last came to a staircase leading down to the next street.

"Hold on," Jackie yelled, and Janna did just that, "Now jump!" The two leaped into the air and landed on the iron railing of the stairs. They ground down on rail until they at last landed on the sidewalk and came to a stop.

"Ugh, don't do that again," Janna said, "You could have gotten us killed."

"Sorry," Jackie replied, "Thought it would be a quick way down."

"Eh, it was still awesome, though," Janna responded, switching tones, "But I think this is where we need to be." The two girls looked to their left and found they were near the building in question. Near them was an off ramp that lead to what looked like a docking and shipping area for trucks. "Down there is the entrance."

"Are you sure we should even be down there?" Jackie asked.

"If it means finding another monster portal," Janna answered, "I'm willing to go down there and find it..." and she continued her sentence under her breath, "...along with any other creepy things that could be hiding there." The thought of finding a dead body or some other hidden horrors excited her. "And hey, if someone does catch us where we shouldn't be, we'll just tell them we got lost exploring or something. Play it off as innocently as possible."

The two hopped back on Jackie's skateboard and road their way down the ramp and passed two trucks. No one was inside them. There was however a guy on his smoke break whom they also passed while heading through the door.

"You hooligans better not have any video cameras," he yelled from behind them, "You'll go straight to juvy."

"We don't, sir," Jackie yelled back, continuing forward, moving beyond the packing materials and rounding the corner before stopping at another staircase. The two got off the skateboard and decided to continue on foot. The phrase "HALL OF RECORDS" hung above the archway that led to the stairs. They proceeded down the hall and saw that it ended in a fork. To their right were were two people in white jump suits with gas masks and goggles who looked like they were cleaning something off the wall. They saw that someone had spray-painted the phrase "Fortunato was here!"

The two individuals looked up from what they were doing and stared at the girls. Jackie and Janna could not see their faces due to the masks and shaded goggles and, given the structure of the suits, couldn't tell if they were men or women. All they knew was that they were staring at them for an uncomfortable amount of time, not moving, and seemingly not even breathing; they couldn't tell if their chests or shoulders were moving to indicate this. They may as well have been mannequins at that point.

"Sorry to interrupt your work," Jackie said at last, but the suited figures gave no response, "We're leaving now..." And the two girls went the opposite direction down the opposite corridor. Janna looked over her shoulder and saw the figures were still staring at them. They continued until they rounded another corner down another tunnel, proceeding south by the city's map.

"Who were those guys?" Janna asked, "Better question: what were those guys?"

"Don't know," Jackie said, "But I'd rather not think about them anymore." She changed the subject as they walked. "So what is this place? I've lived in the Los Angeles area most of my life, moving between Venice Beach, Eagle Rock, and Echo Creek, and I've never heard of these tunnels."

"They were used during prohibition," Janna replied, "A lot of illegal bootlegging and transport through here to keep it off the streets. Funny thing was, the politicians and police were all in on it, so what was the point?"

"Had to keep up appearances, I guess," Jackie answered, expressing her thoughts, "What does your phone say?" Janna looked at her phone; it began with another slight blip on her map.

"Shouldn't be too much farther," Janna responded, "It shows there may have been some activity up ahead. Still giving off some sort of electrical pulse. Besides those two weird cleaner guys, I am a little disappointed I haven't found anything creepy down here; not as scary as I thought it'd be. I was expecting to at least find a skeleton or something."

"What would you do if you had?"

"I don't know; it's just the type of thing I like to chase."

"Nightmare fetish much?"

"Oh, you know it," Janna said with a smile.

Of course, she would get her wish pretty soon as the seemingly endless tunnel looked more and more dilapidated and poorly lit as they proceeded. There were other tunnels that shot off from this one, but they were fenced off with rusted wires, black tarp, and old newspapers. All the while, the eerie feelings continued to creep into both of them. Suddenly the blipping on Janna's phone became louder. She looked down and found that they were getting closer to their destination.

"Around this corner!" Janna shouted excitedly. The two turned right at the next fork and did not see a portal but some sort of strange figure crouched on the ground, breathing heavily. It had leathery pale skin with red patches here and there. Where its arms would have been were two long twitching tentacles apiece from where the forearm terminated. It stopped whatever it was doing, stood up, and turned around to face the girls. It did not seem to have a face, but they could tell it was looking at them. It took two steps towards them on its lizard-esque legs before stopping and leaning slightly down to them. It had to have been at least eight or nine feet tall. Its long leathery tail knocked over several cardboard boxes in the process of turning around.

"Umm, hi," Jackie said, "Do you come in peace?"

The creatures face then opened like some sort of toothed flower to reveal a large, round mouth from which it proceeded to sound off an ear-piercing screech.

"I'll take that as a no," Jackie answered. And with that, the girls hopped on the skateboard, and Jackie pushed off down the next corridor, the monster following close behind them.


	2. Winter in Mewni

"When routine bites hard\And ambitions are low\And resentment rides high\But emotions won't grow\And we're changing our ways\Taking different roads." – Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

As Star and Marco stepped through the portal, they found themselves in a new snow-covered Butterfly Village, the crisp air biting their noses. They stood atop the 69th Street bridge, a torched lamp at each corner, which arched over a new frozen stream. Marco imagined it would have been gorgeous during the springtime. Star thought it was gorgeous now; she had actually kind of missed Mewni winters. While Echo Creek was bright, sunny, and warm throughout the year, much like her personality, there was some joy in experiencing the different seasons.

And then it hit them. They were freezing.

"Brrrrrrr!" exclaimed Marco, shivering, "I don't think this hoodie is going to do it for me."

"No problem, best bud!" Star said with a smile. She waved her wand, and their clothing changed into a warmer, more padded version of their current outfit. Star's dress was now lined with wool and had a nice poofy trim to it, and Marco's hoodie turned into a red winter jacket. She waved the wand again and gave both of them ear muffs.

"Woah," Marco said in amazement, "I keep forgetting you can give us an outfit upgrade whenever you like."

"There seem to be a lot of things you're forgetting as of late, Marco," Star muttered to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing," she responded, "Anyways, here we are, back in Mewni. Now, to begin the search! But where, oh where should we begin?"

"Why don't we just tell your parents about this?" Marco asked. "They could at least be alerted to a possible threat to their land and could help back us with reinforcements if we need them." He then began walking across the bridge towards Broadway Road in the direction of Castle Butterfly.

"Oh, no," Star groaned in frantic agitation, "No, no, no, no, no, no, Marco!" She grabbed him by the arm to pull him back, but when he looked back at her to hear what she had to say, her speech stopped short. She looked up at his confused face, into his soft eyes, and her heart began racing again. Her stomach once again turned in knots, and for a moment, she lost herself. Looking into his eyes reminded her that she was losing him...or had already lost him completely. But here he was, with her, once again on yet another trite adventure. In a brief instant, the world had a slight green tint to it. She was reminded of what happened to her wand over the past three months when she had felt these emotions.

Was this what they called sorrow? No, it had to be fear. Not even that; clearly, this was rage. No...what was she feeling?

"Star, are you okay?" Marco inquired, noticing something clearly wrong in her demeanor.

"I'm fine!" she shouted, jerking her head back and forth, regaining her composure. "But we definitely cannot, I repeat, cannot tell mom and dad about this! They would kill me for losing the book!"

"I'm pretty sure they would understand it was stolen from you," Marco said, "You were defending yourself in a fight, and Ludo ran off with it in the heat of everything. This stuff happens. It wasn't even remotely your fault."

"Do you reeeeally want to try and convince mom of that?" Star stammered. "No, they're going to think, once again, that I'm too irresponsible with the stuff they give me."

"So what should we do?" Marco asked. "I think we should ask the last person to see Ludo. Who was closest to him?"

"BUFF FROG!" Star exclaimed. "He'll know. He has to. At least it's a start, right?"

"Sure," Marco said, "as long as he doesn't kill us first."

"Hey, we babysat for him," Star reminded him, "I'm sure he won't hold a grudge against us after that. Besides, who can turn down some more buttered corn?" She whipped out her wand again and blasted her opposite hand, which instantly held a plate of hot buttered corn on the cob. Marco shook his head.

"Come on, Princess Pleaser," he said with a sarcastic tone and took her by the hand. She blushed as their skin touched but immediately had to remind herself that this was indeed platonic...and would forever be just that. She was fighting it with every last inch of her core being. The two then proceeded out of the village and into the woods.

The two walked down the path in silence together for what seemed like an eternity. Passing by a few white trunks of dormant, leafless trees, she could see a few fairies flying here and there, but they seemed so melancholic. While they had a few tiny snowball fights together, it looked like there was something off about them, like they were drained of their energy from being in the dead lifelessness of the cold.

She looked up at the sky and reflected on the dense, dingy overcast. The snowfall came in gentle cat steps, and it seemed to almost reflect her quiet turmoil of spirit. But this was supposed to be early morning, right? Why was it so dark? The oppressively cold, dark climate was not what her discombobulated mentality needed. What bothered her more than anything was the silence.

And she was determined to break it.

She was going to tell Marco exactly, precisely how she felt, despite not knowing exactly how that was.

This was happening. Her mouth was opening, ready to make talky noises.

"I..." Star began to speak, but immediately another sound interrupted her.

"Marco..." Angie's voice echoed across the frosty woods.

"Mom?" Marco questioned, completely bewildered. "What could she be doing out here?"

"Uuuugh, Marco," Star uttered, "That wasn't your mom."

"But it sounded like her," he said, walking past Star towards the trees.

"Marco..." Angie's voice echoed once more, seemingly closer than last time, "Won't you follow me, son? I found such a sight to show you..."

He stepped off of the path and made his way through the trees, crushing large patches of snow beneath his new boots. He continued to hear his mother call out to him, and it sounded as though he was getting closer to her.

"Marco, come back," Star called out, but he continued into the woods as though he could not hear her.

"Hello, dear," he heard from Angie's voice now five feet from him. She was standing there in the snow, dressed as he would normally expect her to be, not at all prepared for the snow. Her face seemed unnaturally pale, but the winter Mewni air did not seem to bother her at all. She seemed to be grinning from ear to ear. There was something slightly off about her eyes, hair, and teeth, something slightly jagged and uneven. Plus, it looked like her lips were about to either fall off or float away into the air. But none of it seemed to bother him; he was fully accepting that this was indeed his mother before him. "CoMe FoLlOw Me ThRoUgH TheSE WooDs! It'S SOOO mUcH FunnN!"

"Oh would you stop?" Star groaned having caught up to Marco, "Just go bug someone else!" She then fired several magic missiles from her wand at weird floating effigy that was Angie, all the while shouting "Shoo! Shoo!" The figure then curled up into a white ball with a distorted face.

The porcelain face of the entity screeched at them then flow off between the trees until its cries faded away into the thin air and its pearl-shaped form blended into the whiteness of the falling snow.

"Ugh, wisps," Star grimaced.

"She seemed so real," Marco said, "I thought she had really made her way back to Mewni for some reason. I was questioning it the whole time, but at the same time, I was curious what she wanted to show me."

"Yeah, I'd say that's typical wisp magic," Star responded, "I think they'd make great actors if Earth's little town of Hollywood would pick them up. That is, if they could get their shape-forming trick to work."

"Let's keep going," Marco resolved, and the two proceeded back to the path. "Thanks for lookin' out for me back there, Star."

"No trouble at all, bestie!" Star said, and then followed with under her breath, "I wonder if Jackie can look out for you the same way I can..."

They continued along the pathway until they had finally come across a patch in the trees to their left that showed a clearing, likewise blanketed in cotton white snow. There was a little red fox leaping into the air and burrowing into it in the distance, no doubt trying to hunt for a mouse. Star looked up at the sky once more and, above the treeline, could see an opening in the clouds, giving way to the morning sun, a small glimmer of golden light through the oppressive gray gloom. Star saw this as a symbol for how she felt, that no matter how bad things looked right now, there was still a glimmer of hope that everything would improve and begin going her way once more. She had to believe this. The thought gave her determination. She smiled, turned back to the path, and continued forward while humming a happy little tune.

Marco saw something else looking into the sky. The gold and red light looked almost like there was a fire off in the distance, as if something was burning on a distant unseen hill. Could that fire be spreading? Could this be a sign of things to come for both of them? He turned to see that Star was already on her way down the road.

"Hey Star," Marco called out, while walking behind her, "There's something I need to get off my chest,"

"What's up?" she asked cheerfully, still walking forward.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry for not telling Jackie that you and I were going together," Marco said with a sigh, "It's just when she approached me, I choked up, and my mind went blank. Had I been a better friend, I would have at least told her I was already going with you but could have at least asked your permission before saying yes."

Star's pace stopped, as did her heart. She didn't turn around.

"Oh, hey," Star finally muttered, "It's okay. We were already over this. I was double-booked with Janna's thing with the ghost clown. Besides, I get it. I know the effect she has on you. So...it's...it's really not a big deal."

"Yeah, well," Marco continued awkwardly, "the dance was lame anyways. We kinda ditched it."

"The seance was kinda lame, too," Star replied, still not turning around, seemingly frozen, "The ghost didn't even show up until after Ludo attacked. Although, I kinda feel bad about him getting sucked through the portal I made. I don't think he really deserved that."

"But hey, It wasn't a total failure," Marco's voice rose, excited, "I know you've been really supportive of us getting together, so I'm sure you'll be happy to hear this. She asked me out on an actual date right after we ditched. She gave me a ride on her skateboard, we held hands, she rested her feet in my lap, and...we shared a kiss."

Star shuddered at hearing this. Her fingers clutched tight around her wand and backpack strap. She wasn't about to turn around. She couldn't let him see her like this, see the tears that she could no longer fight that were now running down the hearts on her cheeks. She wondered if the effect would make it look like they were breaking, because that's exactly what she felt in her chest. She lost her breath for a moment before choking back a cry.

"That's..." she managed to croak out, "That's wonderful, Marco. I...I'm happy for you. I want you to be so...so happy."

"Star," Marco began again, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Marco. Please, don't worry."

"I'm worried about a lot of different things," Marco said, "I'm worried about you, about your state of mind, about the weird green corrupt magic your wand has been producing, and...about my nightmares. I already told you about the one where I saw myself in the locker with the suit while you had gone feral and everyone else floated up to the moon. Well, they've been getting worse."

"What?" Star asked, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes, regaining her poise, and turning around to look at him.

"The last one I had, it just felt too real," Marco explained, "I was in our house, but everything was dark. The only light was from the fireplace. You, mom, and dad were all laying on the ground, completely motionless. I look to my right and see that the monster arm has grown back. All of a sudden, I feel a hand on my shoulder and hear that Toffee guy's voice saying, 'You did what had to be done.' I woke up completely shaken after that. Didn't sleep for the rest of the night. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want you to worry."

She was stunned for a moment but then walked back over to him. She gently grabbed his hands. There was a warmth there he hadn't felt during the other times they had held hands, some other feeling. He thought of what happened last night with Jackie.

"It's okay," Star said softly to him; she seemed unusually calmer. Maybe she was just drained after an emotional roller coaster. Or was it something else? "I'm here for you, bestie. If you ever need anything, I'll always be there for you."

She was getting closer to him, almost at an uncomfortable level. Why would he have been uncomfortable to be this close to her? He knew things were different now, but did she recognize this, or was she in denial? Their faces were close to touching before he spoke and backed away.

"Thanks Star," he said, interrupting the moment that he knew would not end well had he not halted it, "That means a lot. But back to the task at hand. We need to find Buff Frog." He looked over and saw that they had just passed a house, which lay right across the path from the clearing. The sign on the fence read, "Буфф Лягушка," which Marco recognized as Russian text (although he could not read it himself). It was definitely out of place in Mewni, and he had heard the Frog man speak in Russian a few times during their battles, which of course made him wonder how he had learned the language. "I think that may be it."

Star switched gears and became her usual energetic self.

"Marco, you're a genius," she yelled and ran towards the house. Marco of course followed her. Star knocked on the door pleasantly and gracefully. "Oh, Buuuuuuff Froooog!" she sang out to whoever was inside.

The door opened, and legged tadpoles immediately flew from the opening, knocking Star to the ground. They leapt all over her, giving her a ticklish feeling.

"Oh Boris, Igor, Katrina!" Star called out, laughing, "I missed you cute weedle guys all so much." While this was happening, Yvgeny (otherwise known as Buff Frog) answered the door.

"Hey, frog guy!" Marco addressed him awkwardly, "Long time no see, I guess."

"I will say, it's been few months," Buff Frog answered, and then he called out to his kids, "Idite v dome!" The tadpoles leapt off of Star and hopped in a uniform fashion back into the house where they gathered in a circle, still looking up at Star and Marco. "I am glad you've come. Come in and sit down. We've much to discuss."

The two proceeded into the house.

"We're here because we're looking for Ludo," Marco said while sitting down on a wooden stool near the fireplace. He got straight to the point without any introduction.

"And that's one reason I'm glad you've come," Buff Frog answered, "I needed to warn both of you regarding this. This is actually my second house, as I've moved for fear of Ludo following me. Boo Fly is the only one who can read the sign outside after I taught him what it means. He has gone insane and has his own following of monsters and rats."

"And now he has a wand of his own and my spellbook," Star said, "If we don't get it back, who knows what he could do..."

"I can only fear worst case scenario here," Buff Frog continued, "If he has book, it may explain unusual happenings in forest."

"What's been happening?" Marco asked.

"Boo Fly has gone missing," Buff Frog sighed, almost reluctant to tell the story, "He left the house last night, but not five minutes after, and I thought I heard shouting. I looked out to see cause and could not see him anywhere. I did however see strange eyes peering at me from trees, along with otherworldly howling."

"If you're this concerned about your family's safety," Star interjected, "You could easily speak with my parents, especially if you have information on a possible threat to the land. They would give you asylum, I'm sure."

"And risk getting killed upon walking into town?" Buff Frog responded, "Ty sumasshedshiy? No, I think not. Besides, the monster community would never trust me afterwards for consorting with Butterfly family."

"This could be a threat to everyone!" Marco exclaimed, "I'm sure they would understand, especially if Ludo is as power hungry as we've seen."

"I'm sorry, Karate Boy," Buff Frog explained, "But risk is too great. I can at least give location where I had last seen Ludo."

Just then, they heard the voice of Pikotaro singing "I have a pen, I have an apple..."

It was coming from Star's phone. She answered it.

"Star," Janna answered on the video call, "We've run into a bit of trouble here." She looked like she had her shoulder pressed to a wooden door with something thumping on the other end. Jackie was behind her, trying to reinforce the door likewise with her own shoulder.

"We're on it, Janna Banana!" Star shouted, a serious look on her face, "Be right there." She hung up the phone and readied her scissors. But immediately upon producing them from her bag, there came some unearthly roaring from outside. Star and Marco ran out to see what caused it, only to find a gargantuan black portal had opened in the beautiful clearing they had admired only moments prior, getting in the way of their view of the opening in the clouds.

Out of the portal came something neither of them had expected. The creatures that came from the portal were nothing like they had seen in past skirmishes; that is to say, the wretched things were indescribable, their forms composed of various twisted masses, mostly consisting to burning red eyes, jagged teeth, and continually swirling and twitching tentacles. It hurt their heads to even look at the unnameable monstrosities, let alone try to determine the full aspect of their being.

"What will we do now?" Buff Frog asked, holding his frightened tadpoles close to him.

Star looked over at Marco. She reached behind him and tore a hole in reality with the scissors.

"You have to go back to Earth," she told him, "Jackie and Janna need your help."

"What about you?" Marco stammered, "Are you going to be okay against those...things?"

"Don't worry about me," Star shouted back at him, "I'm a big girl, I can do this. Remember how I told you the night after the Blood Moon Ball that you need to trust me to do things on my own? Now's one of those times." She paused, remembering that night for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, she grabbed Marco by the hoodie and gave him a kiss on the cheek, not knowing if she would make it back after this incident. "There, Jackie shouldn't object to that one. Now, go save your girlfriend." She then pushed Marco through the portal behind him.

As Marco disappeared into the portal, just before it closed, she thought she heard some sort of loud crash, as if some large piece of wood were splintering to pieces.

But she didn't have time to worry about it.

Star walked into the path, putting herself between Buff Frog's home and the now tainted clearing. She did not shriek, but the ghastly, unholy abominations shrieked for her as they spilled and tumbled forward, making their way across the snow to the path where Star was standing her ground, no matter what accursed beast she faced. She readied her wand, preparing an attack.

"Rainbow Fist Punch!" she shouted.


	3. Meet the Mothman

**Finally finished. I probably went a little overboard with this one, but it's still nice, good, cheesy fun. I also took some liberties with the speakeasy underneath King Eddy's Saloon. The old pub is now gone and is mostly used for their storage; the murals on the walls, however, are still there. Hope you enjoy; I worked hard on this one. Yes, even writing cheesiness like this is still hard work.**

"[T]hat we were going like two dwarfed Davids to face an adversary greater than any Goliath...a dweller not only of the darkness of the wood but in that greater darkness which the mind of man has sought to explore since his dawn." – August Derleth, "The Dweller in Darkness"

Janna and Jackie continued to speed down the hallway on the skateboard as the monster continued to pursue them. Janna looked back to see the creature flail its tentacled arms this way and that as it ran, its "head" open and closing, letting out short frustrated roars here and there. It wanted its toys, and those toys were Janna and Jackie. She could only describe it as the "demogorgon," as it sort of looked like a mish-mash of two different creatures which shared that name.

"We need to find a place to hide," Janna shouted, "When we can, I'll call Star."

"I think I can lose this thing," Jackie shouted back, dodging old crates and wooden flat beds that lined the halls. She rounded the corner, and as she did, Janna reached out and knocked over a large stack of the wooden crates. The creature shrieked out in agony as the heavy boxes fell on it.

"There," Janna yelled, "That should slow it down for a little while."

"I think I see a door up ahead," Jackie replied. Through the darkness, there was an old wooden door at the end of the hall. The girls leapt from the skateboard, and as Jackie collected it, Janna tried opening the door. The knob seemed stuck; she attempted to wiggle it back and forth in agitation.

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy," Janna moaned.

"Here, try turning it again," Jackie said, "I'm going to try putting some weight on it." Janna turned the knob again, and Jackie pressed her shoulder against it. After about two pushes, the door opened, but not before the creature, which had freed itself from the boxes, flung one of its long tentacles towards the girls. They hurried into the next room just before the tentacle was able to reach them and slammed the door behind them.

Knowing the monster wasn't finished in its quest to reach them, the two immediately held the old wooden door closed. Sure enough, the creature began pounding on it. Janna flipped out her phone and attempted to video call Star.

She thankfully answered in seconds.

"Hello!" Star answered in that pleasant, sing-song voice of hers.

"Star," Janna said, still trying to brace herself against the door, "We've run into a bit of trouble here."

"We're on it, Janna Banana," Star shouted with a determined tone, "Be right there." With that, Star hung up. The two girls hoped they would come soon, as they didn't know how long this door would hold. And when the creature finally broke it, what would they do? They didn't have Star's magic or Marco's fighting skill. Granted, they could hit the thing with whatever objects they could find, Jackie's skateboard being a prime example, but would that be enough to stop it or even hurt it? It did not seem to like the crates being dumped on it, so there was some hope at least.

Seeping through the cracks in the door were trails of green slime that Janna immediately recognized as ectoplasm. One trail of the substance ran down Jackie's shoulder and oozed across her arm, but she refused to let it bother her. She was determined to keep the door shut, and the monster out.

At length, however, the banging subsided, and the door grew still. There was a moment of silence in the air before the girls heard what sounded like a loud high-pitched cackle from down the hallway. The cackle actually repeated in two second intervals and grew more distant, as if whatever was making it was running back down the hallway.

But of course, they were not about to open the door to find out if it was the creature or something else making the noise.

Finally, there was silence.

It was an uncomfortable silence at that. The only sound they could hear was their own breath. No electric buzzing, no water running through pipes, no bugs scurrying across the floor. Just dead silence.

Janna broke it.

"I think it gave up," she stammered, shaking in every limb.

"We're safe for now," Jackie said, breathing a sigh of relief while attempting to clean the slime off her forearm and hand with the bottom of her shirt, "I think we earned a moment to catch our breath."

The girls took a moment to examine their surroundings. They were in what looked like a large underground pub. Janna thought that this must have been one of the old speakeasies from the 1920's. The tables and chairs were covered in dust, and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. The hanging glass lamps still had working electric lights, which the girls concluded must have used the same electrical wiring as whatever establishment was above them. Behind the bar, all the alcohol, glasses, and other paraphernalia had all been removed. At the far end of the room, in the opposite corner from them, was a staircase leading upwards.

There were, however, a few things that still remained of the character of the pub. There was a chess game still in progress on one of the tables; it looked like the dark queen was ready to take the white king. At the end of the bar was an alabaster bust of Pallas. They may have added it to try and give some class to the location, but all it did was look creepy, as it seemed her eyes were watching the girls the entire time. It weirded Jackie out, but Janna thought it was pretty cool. On the far wall near the stairs were murals depicting various things. One panel showed what looked like a keg filling beer, while another depicted a cartoonish looking police officer scolding an equally cartoonish slumped over wino.

Jackie wondered what life would have been like in this place 90 years ago. Janna, of course, was silently hoping the ghosts of previous patrons still lingered there. They then proceeded to examine everything in the room, possibly for a way out, but not before having a bit of fun. Janna hopped behind the bar, while Jackie sat at one of the stools in front of it and slumped over.

"What'll it be this evening, miss?" Janna said in a deeper, nasaly voice while putting a bit of her hair over her face to make it look like a mustache.

"I'll have my fifth whiskey, please," Jackie answered, pretending to slur her words.

"I think you had enough for the night, ma'am!"

"I'll tell you when I've had enough!" Jackie yelled, giving a fake hiccup. And the two girls laughed at their ridiculous play. "You think Star and Marco are on their way? We still need to find out where that monster came from and a way out of here."

"They should be here soon," Janna replied, "Those scissors of hers have a way of finding us pretty fast."

As soon as Janna said this, the lights began to flicker and dim until finally the warm glow of the hanging lamps went out. Some of the smaller lights overhead still remained on but gave off a dull, sickly off-white glow that only revealed patches of the room.

"Uh, Janna, what's happening?" Jackie asked rhetorically.

"Shh," Janna answered, attempting to speak softly, "I think I see something." And this she did. There was something small and black in the back of the room, crouched behind one of the tables. In the sparse lighting, she could not make out what it was but immediately had some idea as the thing began to rise from its position, making a harsh, raspy breathing as it did.

The figure looked humanoid in shape but appeared to be cloaked in darkness. It could have been the lighting, but it almost looked like the creature was made of shadow. It wasted no time in moving towards them between the tables.

Jackie and Janna both quickly ducked behind the bar and cowered there in the dark. Janna was half tempted to peek over the bar at the thing again, but every instinct within her told her that was a very bad idea. As the thing moved forward, neither of them could hear footfalls but could swear they heard the rapid beating of moth wings echoing through the room. The entity finally halted at the edge of the bar, as the girls could see on the large mirror above them. As soon as it made its stop, they could not help but feel something within them, not just the fear of getting caught by the thing but also something else, something a bit more deep seated. Sadness. Anguish. Images of many great disasters and tragedies over the past several centuries raced through their minds before they came back to staring into the depths of the mirror at the entity, which had come to a complete stop.

It looked as though the thing was not moving or even breathing, much like the jump-suited figures in the previous hallway. And after a moment of uncomfortable silence, it finally spoke.

"Hear me, mortals," it said in a deep, gravely voice, "I will find you eventually. That, or you will end this futility and reveal yourselves. Either way, today, you will die."

Just then, a portal opened up roughly five to eight feet in the air behind the entity. Out of the swirling opening came Marco falling to the ground, flailing like an octopus being thrown from a window. He landed on one of the old tables, causing it to shatter to splinters with a loud crash that caused the figure to quickly pivot towards him.

As Marco began to sit up, his back now in only minor pain thanks to the padding in the coat Star had given him, the creature loomed over him. Marco could see the creature's face, and his brain shut down at the sight of it. The entity's "cloak" began to flair up to reveal great black moth wings that enshrouded Marco. The creature then began to open its "mouth" and siphon away Marco's life essence, the energy he carried inside him that otherwise kept him going and alive.

For a brief moment, Marco perceived himself somewhere else, in a white room with black curtains. A doctor was taking notes on what he was telling her about this world of Mewni and about his adventures with his "imaginary friend" Princess Star. His friends Alphonso, Ferguson, and Janna were there, along with his girlfriend of five years, Jackie. They were all asking another doctor from where these delusions may have come. He mentioned something about Schizophrenia sometimes appearing later in life, sometimes earlier, as well as giving them treatment options for Marco.

"This isn't really happening!" Marco attempted to say, but the words never left his mouth, only a grunt.

This reality could not be true, could it? No, he was getting his life siphoned away by some horrid monster, but he was unable to fight it for some reason. He felt light-headed, sluggish, and above all, depressed as the air around him became thin.

From the girls' perspectives, the creature may have been distracted, but now it was attacking Marco, and Jackie was not about to tolerate that. Fear turned to rage as she gripped the skateboard in her hand. She heard Marco groan slightly from across the room as the creature further drained his energy. She completely forgot why she was scared of this thing; the only thing that mattered was to stop it from hurting him.

For a brief moment, she wondered if Star felt the same thing any time Marco was in danger.

With a loud yell, Jackie vaulted over the bar and slammed her skateboard into the back of the creature's "head," if one could call it that. The creature turned towards her, her actions having seemingly only irritated it rather than having done any real damage. It raised its needle-like clawed hand and lifted Jackie into the air, the telekinetic force gripping her by the throat.

Now, it was Janna's turn to be brave. She likewise leapt over the bar and, grabbing one of the old rusted barstools, whacked the monster in its gut, letting out a "Hiya!" as she did. It caused the creature to flinch but not nearly enough to stun it. It just turned its attention towards her and raised its other hand to force grab her by the throat. The two girls swung through the air as it then threw them against the wall behind Marco and proceeded to walk towards them, its wings spread outward.

The girls looked down into the creature's face and immediately regretted it. It was like looking into what they would have perceived as living anti-matter. A dark swimming void of energy that apparently had eyes as well. They gazed into the abyss, and the abyss did indeed gaze back into them.

"Were you trying to hurt me, mortals," The creature asked from its mouth, which was never in the same place twice on its face, as the rest of its teeth would occasionally shift here and there, "or just entertain me? No matter. Soon your life essence will be mine."

Marco was slowly standing back to his feet, holding his arm as he did.

"Jackie..." he managed to croak out.

Jackie looked over at him, and had a moment of relief that he was safe. She took some solace that if this were the end, she at least saved her new boyfriend.

Just then, there was a bright red flash from the bottom of the staircase, along with the sound of roaring flames.

"INDRID!" a voice Marco immediately recognized as Tom's shouted from the flames before finally appearing, "You're coming back to the underworld with me, right now!"

"Tom, my boy," the giant shadow moth beast replied, "on whose authority do you speak? And what power might you have that you could make me?"

"The council decreed long ago that you were to be locked in the Vault," Tom said, his voice full of rage, "And as for what power..." He then generated a fireball in his hand and continued. "This!" And with that, he began hurling fireball after fireball at the beast, this causing it to stagger away, letting the girls fall to the floor in a coughing fit. Marco ran over to help Jackie to her feet. Tom progressed forward near them, still hurling fireballs at the monster until he stopped in front of Janna.

"Are these friends of yours?" he asked Marco. Marco nodded. "Then let me help." He stuck out one hand towards Janna who was still recovering from the coughing. She looked up to see Tom towering over her and offering a helping hand. For a moment, she felt stunned and awed at this guy. Her immediate thoughts were how cool his third eye and horns looked, while her next thoughts were how great he smelled, which was ultimately a combination of brimstone and cheap cologne, but she didn't care.

With the last of her coughs, Janna took Tom by the hand, which allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"You okay?" Tom asked.

"Y-yeah," Janna answered, "Thanks to you." What was this she was feeling? Was she giving satisfaction to this guy who ultimately saved her? Wasn't this the cliché she wanted to go against, a guy saving a girl? No, everyone needs help at times, and this horned, three-eyed fellow just happened to step up to the plate. The fact that she thought he was cool looking and great smelling was a separate but welcomed bonus.

"You've grown stronger since I last saw you, Tom," Indrid said, his wings fluttering, ash flying from them as they did, "But do you truly believe you can spar with me, the creator of atrocities?" With that, Indrid flew towards Tom, knocking over several chairs on the way. Tom raised up his hand and caught him mid air with his own telekinetic lift. Tom turned his other hand behind him and generated a fiery portal behind him on the floor.

"Return from whence you came," Tom said, trying to calm his anger and focus on the task at hand. He then telekinetically flung Indrid through the air in an arc fashion, knocking away cobwebs from the ceiling, and landing him into the portal. The only problem was that Indrid still held fast to the sides of the dimensional gateway.

"You think you can contain me, boy?" Indrid shouted in a booming voice, "as long as there is destruction and malice in the world, I will be there!"

Janna acted fast and jumped onto one of the tables. She then performed a flip off of it and landed her heel onto the creature's ever changing face.

"Bye bye, little butterfly, er, I mean moth!" she yelled, hopping off of the creature as it finally let go and fell back into the world in which it belonged. As the portal closed, Tom looked over her, fully impressed at the stunt. He didn't know who this girl was, but she already seemed pretty cool. He might try to get to know her later once his task was completed.

There was still something very wrong in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and not just in Echo Creek.

"Jackie, are you okay?" Marco asked Jackie as she finally caught her breath, her arm over his shoulder, "The monster is finally gone."

"Yeah," Jackie said and flung both arms around Marco's neck, "I'm just glad you're okay." She gave him a quick kiss before letting go and turning back to the rest of the group. "Is this guy a friend of yours Marco?"

"Everyone, this is Tom," Marco responded, holding his arms up to gesture to him, while Tom nonchalantly checked his cell phone for the current time.

"Greetings, ladies," Tom replied with a half smirk and a quick wave.

"Oh, yeah!" Jackie realized, "I remember he came to our school once. Walked right into class and tried to ask Star to some sort of weird dance. Hey, didn't you two used to date or something?"

"We did, actually," Tom answered, cringing for a moment (he was trying to move on, but thinking about the past was not helping), "Speaking of which, where is she? I thought you two were attached at the hip."

"Back in Mewni," Marco replied, "We ran into a load of weird looking monsters, and she told me to come back here and try to help..."

"Star's not here right now," Janna chirped, poking her head between Tom and Marco, "but maybe I can help? Hi, I'm Janna." She thrust her hand up to him.

"Charmed," Tom responded, somewhat bewildered at how aggressive she seemed, and shook her hand. When it was time to let go, Janna still held her grip firm, a huge smile played over her face. She either didn't want to let go or was testing his strength to see if he could escape. He ended up having to teleport out of her hand, as line of ash lingering where his hand was. Janna looked a little disappointed.

"Anyways, we need to get out of here," Tom said, "I think there's going to be another monster attack pretty soon, and I need to be there for it to see if any of them are escapees."

"What was that thing?" Marco asked.

"One of several entities that escaped the underworld last night," Tom replied, "Believe it or not, we have our own jail for those of us who are too unruly. Our world has to at least have some standards, you know. You can't just tear the universe apart whenever you please. All those who decide this is an okay thing to do get sent to the Vault of the Accursed. Well, someone broke into the vault and released everyone who was stored there, including our moth friend who just went in the hole."

"Wasn't that the Mothman who plagued West Virginia?" Janna asked with an eager look on her face.

"The same," Tom answered, "You know your stuff."

"The paranormal and occult are a bit of a hobby of mine," Janna said with a smile.

"I'm just going to go out on a limb," Marco said, "and say the best way out of here is up those stairs."

"I'm gong out on that same limb," Tom responded, mimicking Marco's voice, "and say that it's locked. Allow me." The group followed Tom up the stairs. To the left of the stairs was a long wooden slide that led back down to the floor of the pub; they wondered why it was there. Tom pointed his finger at the lock on the door and shot a tiny bolt of fire into the lock; he turned the knob and opened the door.

"Ladies first," Tom said, "That includes you, Marco."

"Ha ha," Marco gave out a fake laugh.

They found themselves in what looked more like a modern day pub, albeit a fairly small one. The place was clearly closed, as no one was there. There were still a few lights powered on for them to see the bar to their right and a large booth with three tables to their left. There was a jukebox on the opposite end with a neon sign in the shape of the Ghostbusters logo. The group knew that whoever locked up last night was about to get an earful from the management about not powering everything off.

The television behind the bar was also still on as well. CNN was giving a live broadcast of something.

"Once again," the anchor said, "there has been another sighting of a colossal stone hand flying off the coast of Beach City, Delmarva. This one appears to be what experts say looks to be made of yellow diamond. The national guard have been called in to attempt to contain the situation, but it looks as if there are still two people on the adjacent beach: a girl holding a sword and a boy holding a shield. I wonder what they think they're going to do against this thing, and did the Guard actually let them on to the beach or did they slip by?"

"Ha, that's awesome that this made national news?" Janna asked rhetorically, "I am so posting on Rinaldo's blog about this if he hasn't already."

"We should keep moving," Marco said, "I don't think we're supposed to be in here."

The group nodded in agreement and made their way towards the front door. Tom unlocked it, and the group stepped out into the bright California sunlight. Marco locked door behind them; he was not about to let whoever left the lights on get into any more trouble for having an unlocked door. They looked up to see where they were. The building from which they came had a sign that read "King Eddy's Saloon." To their left was the intersection of Los Angeles Street and E 5th Street.

It was not long before they heard the screams and then the roars.

From across the street, they could see the steel doors of Don's Mart were bent upwards as a black gargantuan tentacled beast covered in red eyes flailed from archways, as if trying to get out into the street. A crowd of people ran from it in fear as one of its tentacles picked up a car and tossed it back down with a loud crash. Across the street from there was the 5th and LA Wholesale Plaza, in which flying from one of the glass doors was an insect-like creature with a vulture head and a scorpion tail, its wings flapping similar to those of a bat.

"Are these some of your Vault's previous residents?" Marco asked.

"Actually, no," Tom answered, "I have no idea what these things are."

"Well, whatever they are," Marco said, "I'm taking them down. They can't be any worse than the monsters Star and I normally take on."

"Under normal circumstances, I'd say this isn't my problem," Tom sighed, "But I think a good brawl with an otherworldly thing would help center me a bit. Gotta get the angries out again."

"Hey, I'll try and help, too," Jackie said, twirling her skateboard in her hands, "I got in a good hit on that Moth thing earlier; I'm pretty sure we could take on those bug-vultures."

"Aren't you worried it'll be dangerous?" Marco asked her.

"No more dangerous than it is for you," she replied, "Besides, I can't let you go it alone."

"I'll take on the tentacle monster," Tom volunteered, "something tells me it doesn't like fire."

"I'm going with Hellboy on this one," Janna interjected, "That thing is actually a shoggoth, and you'd be right about them not liking fire."

"Wow," Tom said, "How did you...?"

"I didn't read from the Necronomicon!" Janna shouted defensively, "Either way, I'm not sure what they're doing here. I would normally expect to see them in Antarctica. If they're here, something must have brought them."

"Either way, let's go!" Marco shouted. Jackie got on her skateboard, and Marco climbed on behind her. The two sped off through the intersection towards the plaza. At the same time, Janna grabbed Tom by the shoulders, spun him around, and then hopped on his back.

"Onwards, brimstone boy!" Janna shouted.

"I guess you're not used to people telling you 'no,' are you?" Tom asked.

"I am," Janna said, "But I usually find ways around them...Because at the end of the day, they're still wrong."

"Aright, just hold on," Tom said. With that, he shot fire from his heels and flew in the direction of the ever growling tentacled monstrosity. He landed on the street corner and let Janna off of his back. "I was just thinking, you need a weapon, too."

"What did you have in mind?"

He held his hand in the air, and out of a burst of fire came what looked like a golden space age looking rifle. Around the muzzle was a collection of prongs that seemed to encircle it. On the side of the weapon were various glowing buttons with characters written in a language Janna could not read. But she knew what it was.

"This is a Yi..." Tom began.

"A Yithian lighting gun!" Janna shouted in excitement. "I never thought I'd get to hold one. Where did you find one?"

"I actually found it in some cave in Oregon," Tom said. Janna looked over the weapon and found that there was something on it that was clearly man-made: a small, screwed-in golden plating with an engraving that read, "Property of Pacifica Northwest. Eat space lightning, peasants!"

"And what is this about?" Janna asked, pointing to the writing.

"I have no idea," Tom replied, "But if it was just abandoned in that cave, I guess they didn't want it anymore. It's yours now."

"Awesome," Janna grinned. She then aimed the rifle at the monster that had just then noticed them. It whipped out a tentacle in their direction but then quickly retracted it when Tom emitted a large flame from his hands. "Eat space lightning, peasant!" Janna shouted in a goofy, snobbish voice as she fired a loud, bright burst of lightning at the beast. It didn't exactly kill the monster, but it did cause it to shriek and attempt to retreat back into the store. At the same time, however, its other tentacles attempted to creep out and attack Tom and Janna. The fight was far from over.

Meanwhile, across the street, Jackie and Marco stopped at the sidewalk. Jackie picked up her skateboard and held it at the ready in case one of the creatures flew at her. Marco readied his stance, preparing to perform a flying kick at one of the monsters.

It was unfortunate, then, that he started feeling a pain in his arm.

He grabbed it and felt it twinge and eventually turn purple.

Not again, he thought to himself as the arm slowly grew and transformed into the gruesome tentacle from last year's mishap with Star's botched healing attempt.

In his mind, he heard several voices shouting:

"Oh, no," he heard the voice of a nurse scream, "He's getting violent! Doctor!"

"Get the tranquilizers!" shouted an orderly.

"If he keeps acting like this," a doctor's voice said, "we may have to keep him confined before I can begin the treatment."

"Those aren't real, those aren't real," Marco kept repeating to himself as he clutched the tentacle.

"What aren't real, Marco?" Jackie asked, and then she noticed the arm, "Whoa, your monster arm is back. Cool. Maybe it can help us against these things."

"No, Jackie!" Marco yelled, "Back off from it. It's unstable." With that, Marco's monster arm threw itself at Jackie. Fortunately, Jackie dodged it in time, rolling forward while still clutching her skateboard. Unfortunately, this put her closer to one of the monsters, who quickly spotted her and dive bombed through the air towards her. "Jackie! I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, Marco," Jackie shouted while blocking the flying monster's beak and tail with her board, "I know it's not you. But maybe you can just let it work for you? See if it'll attack these things as well?" She then flailed the board and hit the monster in the head, causing it to tumble out of the air and onto the concrete below.

Marco took this to heart. He then backed away from Jackie and doubled around to the door from where the bug-vultures were coming. Another flew out at him, and in an instant, his monster arm grappled it and slammed it into the ground multiple times.

"We're holding them off," Jackie shouted, "but I don't know how long we can keep this up."

Just then, one of the jump-suited figures Jackie and Janna had seen in the tunnels walked into view and produced a wand that looked very similar to Star's (only the wings, color, and engraving looked a bit different). From it burst forth glowing cool blue blasts of energy which, upon hitting the bug-vultures, froze them in blocks of ice. Another pink blast shot Marco's monster arm, causing it to transform back into his normal arm, for which Marco felt a tremendous relief. The figure then produced a pair of dimensional scissors, cut open a gateway, and then began picking up the ice-encased creatures and flinging them through the portal.

"Who are you?" Marco asked. The figure stopped what it was doing and walked over to Jackie and Marco.

"You shouldn't be here," the figure said in a cold, electronic voice, "Reality is fractured, and if you interfere too much with it, it's liable to get worse."

"We were just trying to help," Jackie said.

"So you were," the robot-voiced figure replied. It then reached into its backpack and produced something encased in plastic wrap, "For your gesture of trying to fight the threat...here's a sandwich." Jackie opened it and found that it was indeed a sandwich composed of ranch dressing, lettuce, radishes, and cucumber, all of which were fresh.

"Whoa, sweet," Jackie said, "I was getting hungry anyway." This wasn't exactly how she would have made a sandwich; it didn't seem like the ingredients would go well together, but she didn't let it bother her.

"But you didn't answer my question!" Marco shouted, clearly frustrated.

"Uh, maybe later," the figure said before stepping into the dimensional gate with one foot, but not before turning around and saying, "Oh, and Marco, you're not crazy. Well, actually you are, but not in the way you think. Please don't think bad of yourself." The figure then stepped through the gate before it closed.

All Marco could ask now was, "What just happened, and how did they know my name?" But he didn't care at that point. He was just done. And his exhaustion showed on his face.

Jackie broke off a piece of her sandwich and offered it to him. He accepted it.

Across the street, Janna and Tom did their best to defend themselves from the shoggoth. Once again, the other jump-suited figure walked by with what looked like a large vacuum cleaner.

"Excuse me!" the figured kept shouting in a robotic voice. It then turned on the vacuum cleaner and aimed it at the shoggoth. The creature roared once more before its immensity was sucked into the tube and disappeared. The vacuum didn't seem to bulge at all. The figure then walked over to Janna and Tom, who stood simply staring in astonishment at how strange it all was. The robot voiced figure continued to ask them to excuse it as it took the lightning gun from Janna, produced a screwdriver, and unscrewed and removed the plate. It then produced its own set of dimensional scissors, still excusing itself, and stepped into the gateway before it disappeared.

"...What just happened?" Tom asked.

"I have no idea," Janna said, "But I do know I have my own personal Yithian lightning gun!"

"Well," Tom began, "That's that. I better get back to hunting for the Vault prisoners."

"Hey," Janna shouted, grabbing his wrist before he walked away, "Maybe you have time for a break before you get back to it? Maybe grab some coffee? I'll buy."

Tom wasn't about to say no. This girl would not have accepted that answer, at least not without pestering him further. Besides, she was kind of cute.

"Sure," he said with a smirk.

 **And you caught me. I've also got some curiosity for Jantom as well. Would love to see how the two of them would interact. Also, to explain the Yithian Lightning Gun, Pacifica acquired it in my Gravity Falls fanfic, so I decided to give it to Janna in this one. But while Pacifica only new how to use it because the Yithians had invaded her brain, Janna knows of it because she's read about it. Anyways, next chapter is coming soon. It will be significantly shorter than this one. Going to see how Star is doing from where I left her.**


	4. Dream of the Belle Dame

**Done at last. Nearly 5,000 words later, and I'm super tired. The next chapter is going to be much shorter, mostly just of Star and Jackie. I really want it to transition to the new episodes seamlessly. After this, I'll write more after the season has officially ended. And I'm still wondering why Janna and Tom haven't met yet. I mean, it would be so easy; the dialogue would practically write itself. Anyways, enjoy.**

"Make believe in magic\Make believe in dreams\Make believe impossible\Nothing as it seems\To see, touch, taste, smell, hear\But never know if it's real." – The Cure, "More than This"

"Rainbow Fist Punch!" Star shouted as the hideous creatures advanced towards her through the snow. After the fist-like beam of light flew from her wand, it landed on one of the dark tentacled monstrosities, hitting it in one of its many red eyes. Unfortunately, it just seemed to absorb the damage and continued to press forward.

There were a number of these types of creatures, completely black tentacled abominations covered in red eyes, all the size of a subway car. They seemed to be making a raspy whispering noise that seemed loud enough to echo through the trees; Star thought it sounded something like, "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" Either way, she wasn't about to let them trample her or, for that matter, Buff Frog's house, which it looked like the could easily do.

"Giant rabbit leap!" Star screamed in a high pitched voice, aiming her wand at the ground. A pink energy beam with the effigy of various rabbits throughout it fired from the wand and launched her 30 feet into the air, allowing Star to do a somersault in the air, coming back down into a swan dive formation and allowing her to aim her wand down a the creatures.

"Electric energy field!" She shrieked, and a large eel flew from her wand. The eel then stopped roughly 10 feet above the ground, just above the creatures, and out of it shot a massive amount of electromagnetic energy that seemed to fold out like a dome. The energy finally touched the ground, trapping the gargantuan horrors within it and preventing them from advancing any further. They creatures touched the energy field, only to receive a massive electrical shock, causing them to shriek out "Tekeli-li!" once more.

Star would be landing on the ground any second. She had to act fast.

"Marshmallow landing!" she yelled and fired another energy shot at the ground. A large marshmallow appeared on the ground below her and softened her landing. She quickly leapt off of it and back onto the snow. "Good, they're stuck. Now to send you back where you came from..." she said and retrieved her scissors from her backpack. She opened a portal with them but thought again at what she was doing. She looked at the size of the creatures again and tried to consider how they would fit in the portal. "...If I can just figure out how to fit you through there."

Just then, out of that same portal she opened came two figures in jump suits wearing what looked like gas masks.

"Excuse me!" one of them said in a robotic voice. The other that followed him looked like they were carrying a wand similar to her own, although there were several alterations to it. The second figure aimed their wand at the massive electromagnetic field and froze the whole area, including the monsters, in a tremendous block of ice. The first figure produced what looked like a large vacuum cleaner and proceeded to suck up the ice block, causing it to shrink down and disappear into the opening of the hose.

The two figures then looked at each other briefly before heading back towards the portal, as if nothing had happened. Star was completely dumbfounded and wondered who they were and what was happening; she of course was the type who needed immediate answers, and by Jove, she was going to get them. Just before they could step through the portal, Star grabbed the arm of the one holding the wand. Buff Frog also began to walk towards them, now that the danger was over. He wanted to see what the commotion was about as well.

"Wait a second," Star demanded, "Who are you guys, and what was all that about?!" The jump-suited figure looked her up and down, seemingly either sizing her up or attempting to decide on a response.

"I'm sorry, mo..." the robot-voiced figure stammered, shaking its head, "I mean que...I mean princess Butterfly, but the less you know about this the better. I don't have anything to make you forget about this, but I strongly urge you to stay away from any unusual portals if you can help it."

"We kinda didn't have much of a choice on this one," Star said, "They attacked us out of nowhere."

"So they were," it responded, "I'm glad you were able to defend yourself, but we'll take it from here."

The two figures could see that both Star and Buff Frog look even more confused than before. They then looked at each other again before the one with the vacuum cleaner took the backpack from its shoulders, opened it, and produced two white kittens. It then handed one to Star and stuffed the other in the top of Buff Frog's tunic, just enough to allow the little animal's head to peak out. The kittens then mewed and fired red lasers from their eyes in short bursts.

"Kittens always make the sad go away," it said in its electronic voice.

"Aww, they're so cuuuute!" Star squealed with a wide eyed stare, petting the kitten's head, but then she looked up and gave them a serious, narrowed look, "But you guys are raising waaaaay more questions than answers."

The wand carrier sighed.

"I guess I can tell you just enough to keep yourself safe," it said, "I'm sure you have no doubt how easy it is for you to travel through the multiverse with your scissors. Well, similar portals have been appearing throughout the multiverse without reason. This is causing a problem not only for the people of those respective realms but the very fabric of space and time itself. Different timelines are starting to blur together to the point where it is causing a paradoxical breakdown. Timelines that were meant to be parallel are intersecting."

"Whaaaat?" Star asked while cocking her head to the side, a look of pure bewilderment on her face. The wand carrier turned its head in the same direction, almost perfectly mimicking her, as if it were wondering how she could not understand this.

"Basically," the wand carrying figure continued, "portals are opening up, eldritch horrors are running out, time and space are breaking down, and it's causing a major fracture in reality for everyone."

"And we're here to stop it," the figure with the vacuum followed up, "We're trying to send these shoggoths and other nasty beasts back where they came from. But before we go, I guess it doesn't hurt to say that you made a lot of...interesting decisions, mo...I mean princess."

The wand carrier turned to the vacuum figure and made an annoyed gesture with a wave of its hand. The vacuum figure gave an agitated shrug, as if to question why the other was angry.

"And why do you think this is happening?" Star asked.

"There has to be some great magical force at work here," the wand carrier said, "Some forbidden power. My immediate thought would be that Eclipsa has been resurrected, but that's absolutely impossible."

"It has to be a copycat," the vacuum figure said, "someone with access to her knowledge and spells."

"Ludo..." Star whispered to herself.

"Well, anyways, we've got places to go and very little time left," the wand carrier said, once again in its disembodied robotic voice, "Goodbye!"

"Wait, where did you get the..." Star began to ask as the figures stepped through the portal and were gone, "...wand?"

"Ni figa sebe!" Buff Frog exclaimed, "What just happened?"

"I have...noooo idea," Star uttered, dumbfounded, while the kitten began bathing itself in her hands.

"Did both of them almost call you 'Mom?'"

"You know," Star began, "Even if they did, I kinda don't wanna know. That's some information I'm not ready for. A bit on the TMI side and too many more questions after it."

Buff Frog looked down at the kitten sticking out of his shirt. It looked back up at him, mewed, and fired a short laser burst from its eyes just past his ear.

"So what do you want to do about these?" he asked, arm raised and pointing down at the animal's head.

"I guess I could take them home," she answered, looking down at the one in her hand, "I wonder if they would get along with the puppies."

"My experience is that cats have to get used to other animals in house," Buff Frog said, but then he shook his head, as if remembering why all this happened in the first place, "But either way, thank you, Star, for protecting our home."

"Aww, you're welcome," Star responded with a warm smile.

"And I'm glad that you have come," he continued, "as I have warning to give you. Several clicks north of here, Ludo has been growing his own corn and dwelling in smelly cave."

"And he recently stole my magic book," Star answered.

"Here is map which displays location," Buff Frog said, handing her both the map and the kitten he liberated from his shirt, "This should help you find your book."

"Thanks," Star said, throwing her arms around Buff Frog's neck, "Now, I have to go get Marco...if he's not distracted..."

"Karate Boy, you mean," Buff Frog responded, "He would be distracted from your mission?"

"It's just that now he's got this girlfriend he loves so much and..."

"And you really liked this boy, didn't you?"

"Oh, no no, we're just roommates," Star stammered and then paused. She hesitated but realized she could no longer. She had fully given herself away, in voice and demeanor. And finally, she spoke again. "...Is it reeeeeally that obvious?" She felt sheepish, but what else could she do?

"It was obvious since day one of Earth missions," Buff Frog answered, "Every one of Ludo's original gang took bets for day when you two would kiss."

"I guess everyone already knew but me and Marco," Star began to sob, sitting down in the snow, slowly petting the kittens who now wanted to play with her fingers, "I feel so stupid..."

"Sometimes in life," Frogman began to explain, sitting down in the snow next to her, "you don't know what you want. Your head and heart disagree."

"That sounds familiar," Star gave a slight laugh before going back to sobbing, "But what should I do?"

"Be best friend you can possibly be to him," Buff Frog continued, "Be happy that he is happy, be there for him when he needs you, and if you have trouble seeing him with other woman, give yourself some distance. After all, he isn't and shouldn't be your world."

"You're right...thanks..."

"But right now," Buff Frog concluded, rising up and pulling star to her feet, "You need to work together to stop Ludo. He has gone insane and is going to destroy everything if his plan isn't halted."

"Oh, yeah," Star said, pulling out her scissors with one hand and opening a rift, holding the cats in her other, "We gotta come up with a plan. Thank you so much, and I'll remember what you said."

"Dasvidanya, Star," Buff Frog said, "And good luck."

She stepped through the portal and found herself in the attic of her room. Here, she used her wand to generate a food bowl, water bowl, and litter tray for the kittens, who were now playing and getting tangled in a ball of yarn she had left up there last month. This would at least give them a safe haven for now until she could introduce them to the puppies.

Now, it was time for her to get back on track. She was going to see how the rest of her friends were fairing. She was trying to think of the fastest way she could get there, as the scissors would let her travel between dimensions but not at a different place within the same dimension. Then she had an idea. She would travel to another dimension and then travel back here to wherever Marco was.

She sent a text from her phone to Marco and waited in impatient frustration, wondering if the group was still in danger, if they had all been killed, or if he was just making out with Jackie again and ignoring her. She tried to remind herself not to think so negatively, but it was hard. Two minutes later, and Marco responded with another text stating they were on the corner of 5th and Los Angeles. She then tore open a hole in reality with the scissors, not really concentrating on where she would be heading; she would do that on the journey back. She did, however, wonder just for a brief moment if she shouldn't ask Tom for his help. Maybe his aggression could be turned into a benefit to the battle against Ludo. She shook her head and knew what kind of destruction he could bring. He was way too much of a wildcard.

She stepped through the portal and found herself in none other than Tom's Underworld. She was in what looked like a large courtyard. The sky was red with black smoke swirling within it. The walls of the courtyard were made of large stone. On one of the far walls was what looked like a stronghold with the gate blown open from it. From out of it came a large unspeakable creature with spider-like eyes, a gelatinous blue and purple body, and green and red tentacles. It roared angrily while it looked like a group of demon guards attempted to fight it with long halberds and glaives, only for the creature to sweep them away.

Even from here, she could smell the thing. It smelled like bad ham and burning sulfur.

Star decided not to stick around, as she needed to remain focused on the task at hand. Whatever was happening, Tom's army surely had it under control.

She opened another gateway again, this time focusing on the location Marco had given her. She then found herself in a nearby alleyway, agitated that her accuracy was off. As she rounded the corner and saw the cross-streets, however, she was glad that she had. On each corner were various police cars and a few FBI trucks. A whole group of men were looking over these broken shops, taking pictures, putting up yellow police tape, and questioning witnesses. She found Marco and Jackie sitting on the street corner near one of the police cars.

She walked over to where they were to find Marco was slumped over with a blanket around his shoulders. Jackie looked up and saw Star heading their way.

"Hey," she shouted at Star, "you made it just in time for the wrap up."

"Okeee, what's goin' on?" Star asked.

"There was an even bigger monster attack than we thought," Jackie answered, "The things just destroyed this shop and the one across the street. It was intense."

"But you two are okay, right?" Star asked, eager concern in her voice.

"I'm fine," Jackie said, "But I think something's wrong with Marco."

She looked over to see that Marco's face was a deep shade of purple. His eyelids were drooping, and sweat dropped from his temples.

"I started feeling like this," Marco began, his voice sounding very weak, "a few minutes after that jump-suit person blasted me with their wand. It looked kinda like yours, Star."

"You saw them, too?" Star responded.

"Yeah, they were just here a half hour ago," Marco said, "My tentacle arm came back, but she cured it. I think the result backfired. Whoever that was really needs to work on their cure spells and..."

In an instant, he felt it.

It was coming back for round two, that burning feeling in his throat, the sickly, egg-pizza-orange juice taste in his mouth.

He bent over a storm drain nearby and vomited for several minutes straight. Jackie and Star patted the poor boy's back on either side of him, and thankfully the creature comforts at least gave him some relief. He stopped for a moment, and the girls both lifted his around their shoulders on either side of him.

"Hey, Mr. FBI guy," Jackie yelled, "My boyfriend is really sick. If you guys are done questioning us, are we free to go?"

"No, you may not," the FBI man said. He looked like an early 90's action movie villian, with his slicked back hair and narrow gaze. "Your friend may be contaminated with whatever diseases those creatures had. We need to examine him further."

"Ugh, seriously guys?" Star asked rhetorically and opened a portal right in front of them with her scissors, "He's just got the Mewni Spade Flu. You have no idea what you're talking about!" She then, with Jackie's help, dragged Marco through the portal, while the FBI man stood dumbfounded.

The three teens found themselves in the Butterfly courtroom, where Moon, River, and two advisers were discussing something.

"Star, what on Mewni…?" Moon asked in surprise.

"Mom," Star said, "I hate to barge in like this, but Marco has the Spade Flu."

"I say!" River exclaimed, "that boy needs our upmost urgent care at once!' He clapped his hands, and two servants came to retrieve Marco. As they picked him up, he began mumbling some nonsense.

"Please," Marco muttered, "they're...taking me...back to Arkham..."

"What are you talking about?" one of the servants asked.

"Don't" Marco continued to mumble, "let them...give me a lobotomy..."

"We've got to get this boy to bed!" the other servant said and began dragging him down the hallway.

"You can put him in my old room!" Star shouted at them.

"Will do!" the servants shouted back.

"Marco," Jackie yelled at his back, "I promise, after all this is over, we'll go on another date, just the two of us!"

"Coffee Cake!" Marco yelled back, his words slurring.

Jackie watched the three figures disappear through the far door, nervous but relieved at least that Marco was at least in good hands. She turned around to face Star and fill her in on the rest of what happened in downtown LA, only to face something she never expected to see. Star was giving her a very serious look, not one of rage but surely one of resentment, disappointment, and possibly maliciousness. It was the sort of look one would expect from a disapproving parent or that of a stoic judge from the Spanish Inquisition. It was cold and subtly angry. In Star's eyes, Jackie could see the pupils had turned a bright, glowing shade of neon green. While she enjoyed the color, it made her even more uncomfortable to see it in Star's eyes.

Piercing was the right word for it. One might have called it a death-gaze.

"Star," Jackie asked, her voice shaking nervously, "are you okay?"

Star shook her head rapidly.

"What?" Star asked, confused, her eyes having gone back to normal, "Oh, I'm fine, Jackie. I'm just worried about Marco, is all." Star then tried forcing a smile, but it didn't work, in which case she ended up looking down at the blue marble floor.

Jackie knew there was something very wrong with Star. She was not precisely sure what it was, but from the surface level, she had a very good guess. That settled it. She was bound and determined to at least talk it over with Star. She did not want to lose her friendship with her and was hoping that, at least in some way, she could get at the root of what could be ailing her.

"Listen, Star," Jackie began, "can we talk privately a little bit later? I think we'll both feel better if we can get a few things off our chests."

"Yeah," Star answered, giving Jackie a half-hearted smile, "I would like that." Star knew Jackie did not deserve any of the scorn her mind was giving her. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for her to be angry at Jackie. But why was she feeling these waves of animosity? Was this really just her covetousness towards Jackie and Marco? No, she was always more understanding than that. There had to be something bigger at foot here. She could not explain it, and the thought bothered her even further. But then something flashed upon her mind.

"Hey," Star asked, "where's Janna?"

Tom and Janna were now back in Echo Creek at the Starbucks that was a couple miles west of Pasadena. He had teleported them in a puff of fire, leaving both of them standing on the sidewalk in front of the shop.

"Does this work?" Tom asked.

"A little corporate for my taste," Janna responded, "but it will do." The two walked towards the front door. Tom tried to walk ahead, but Janna darted in front of him, opened the door, and held it for him. This caught him off guard, but she looked pretty insistent. In fact as they walked through the line, and he brought out his wallet to pay for them despite what she said earlier, she pushed his hands down and said, "Your money's no good here," and payed for both of them herself. "I'm true to my word."

He was getting slightly annoyed at the fact that she was doing everything, clinching his fist and gritting his teeth, but she gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"I do admire that you're trying, though," Janna said to him with an unusually sweet tone. For some reason, this completely de-escalated his mood and left him perfectly calm in an instant. How did this girl have the power to do this?

The two sat down after having picked up their respective drinks.

"So, I guess I'll cut right to it," Janna said, an eager look on her face, "What's the Underworld like?"

"Well, you know, it can be dark, loud, and painful," Tom replied, "But unlike what you would expect from most Earth mythologies, we actually kind of enjoy the torture."

"So a whole society similar to the Addams Family," Janna said, "Awesome. So do you guys get to experience any of Earth culture at all?"

"Oh, yeah," Tom responded with a smile, "I'm pretty well versed in various human cultures. But now it's my turn to ask a few questions. I kinda gathered that your hobbies included studying what humans call the 'occult.' What got you into that?"

"Oh, I love anything paranormal related," Janna answered, "I've had a lot of paranormal experiences in my life. I've had dead relatives come and visit me at night when I was a little girl, and I kinda had it in my head that I might be able to talk with them again if I were to study magic related things. It just kinda escalated from there. What about you?"

"I'm kinda big on sports," Tom said, "I'm really good at ping-pong. Marco and I started playing that more often; he's getting better, but I'm still waylaying him. I'm also big on video games."

"Same here," Janna replied with some excitement, "I'm really big on survival horror games, like Amnesia, Silent Hill, Resident Evil...what about you?"

"I love action games," Tom retorted, "Let's see, there's Devil May Cry, Bloodborne..."

"Oh, I love Bloodborne," Janna yelped, "It's so hard, though. Actually, one of the bosses kinda looked like that monster we fought earlier."

"Yeah, you have a point," Tom laughed, "It kinda did."

"But now I gotta ask," Janna mused, "Classic literature...It's another big passion of mine. What are your thoughts?"

"Well," Tom answered, "I really like Lovecraft's stories, Robert Browning's poetry, Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth.'"

"What about..." Janna paused, "...John Keats?"

Tom's eyes widened. The demon held up one finger in the air, and a puff of smoke burst above it. Out of the smoke came an old book of selected verse, with the engraving "JOHN KEATS" on it.

"I've been able to keep this thing mint," Tom said, "It was one of the first publications of his collected works." Janna's eyes widened with intrigue. She scrambled around the booth to see it.

"Oooooh, can I see?" She asked with eagerness. She was getting extremely close to him. It had been a long time since a girl had gotten this close to him. He didn't mind this at all.

"Here," Tom said, scooting next to her and opening the book, "Why don't I read you one of my favorites by him?" She grabbed his arm while looking at the old text. Tom smiled and began reading.

"O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering?" Tom voice began droning. Janna listened intently but eventually, as this demon boy's voice was so peaceful to her, she batted and inevitably closed her eyes. When she opened them, she found herself standing in the middle of a large forest. Tall green trees surrounded and overshadowed her, their green foliage blending so well that it seemed like an endless world of green. She could, however, see the sky, which appeared to be a bright orange on the horizon while the rest was a dark blue and purple mass of stars. Two moons hung in the sky. Beautiful flora of different hues lined the path on which she now saw she was standing. It would have looked like something out of an Edward Charles Williams or Frank Dicksee painting...only with the whole Star Wars element of the two moons.

Could this be Mewni? Janna thought to herself.

Though the air, she could still hear Tom's voice reading the poem in a slow, droning voice. She couldn't make out the words, but she knew it was from the same poem. She had read this one so many times, but it was nice hearing someone else reading it aloud.

She decided to proceed down the pathway. It seemed like the most natural thing to do. As she walked along the path, she thought she heard something scurrying in the bushes, making her pause. She looked and thought she heard singing. She actually recognized the language as Gaelic of all things, although she couldn't understand it. It was a woman's voice, and for a moment, she thought it was Star's voice. She caught the word "banshee" out of the woman's song. Janna attempted to push through the foliage to see who it could be. She could indeed see a woman through the blackness singing, one wearing a raven black dress. The figure turned its head towards Janna, her face very much resembling Star's, only her hair was black, and the images on her cheeks looked very different. The woman then darted back through the woods and disappeared.

Janna left the path and decided to follow this woman though the dense trees. She pushed her way through bushes and branches, occasionally hearing what she thought were moans, growls, and whispers, all the while Tom's voice droned on above her. Eventually, she began to hear crying and followed the sound. She came upon a small grove in the forest where the woman was resting her head upon a large rock. The woman was weeping heavily and seemingly not caring that Janna was inching towards her ever so slightly.

Suddenly the woman looked up in Janna's direction. Her eyes were glowing a deep violet as tears streamed down her face. Janna could not help but think of the glow from the eyes of a deer when it looks into a car's headlights or, for that matter, the eyes of ghosts she had seen in paranormal sightings videos on YouTube. She could at last see the icons on the woman's cheeks, which appeared to be none other than spades.

The woman then began to float above the rock before her, a deep purple aura surrounding her. All at once, there appeared to be ghostly figures surrounding each end of the small grove, some Mewman and some monsters, all with hollowed, empty black eye sockets. They each pointed their fingers towards Janna in a deliberate and uniformed jerk.

And all at once, with a mix of Tom's voice above her, they spoke: "La Belle Dame Sans Merci hath thee in thrall!"

What further disturbed her was the fact that she recognized a few of these voices as departed relatives, which further chilled her down to the marrow in her bones.

Still, the woman with the spade cheeks looked down at her, no longer crying but giving Janna an enormous smile. There was something oddly disturbing about it, even more than everything she had seen or heard up to this point. The word "Eclipsa" ran through Janna's mind, like a freight train darting this way and that inside her head. Janna held her temples to try and ease the pain, bringing her to her knees.

Behind this dark woman of the woods were what looked like a swirling mass of black tentacles, twitching this way and that. Her grin widened even further, revealing the white enamel of her teeth. In an instant, the woman flew towards Janna, causing her to jolt awake.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked. She had been laying her head on his shoulder, some of her drool dripping onto his shoulder which she quickly wiped away.

"Yeah," Janna answered, "I'm okay. Just a bad dream."

"That bad, huh?" Tom asked, slightly frustrated and disappointed.

"Quite the opposite," Janna responded, "In fact, you might be too good at reading Keats."

"If I have that effect on you," Tom said, "I can stop."

"Are you kidding?" Janna asked rhetorically, energy returning to her voice, "That was awesome...on to the next poem."


	5. Where We Stand

**Here it is. The last chapter I have before the Starbomb. I'm of course going to continue this after the season finale. Going to try and weave both that and my own AU together. (Big differences are the massive reality tears, Janna and Tom have met, and Star...well, you'll see)**

"You twisted your ankle\I carried you\You got a divorce\So I married you\You fell off a cliff\So I buried you\I wish there were more bad times to see you through." – The Presidents of the United States of America, "Bad Times"

Marco could hear Star and Jackie talking over him as he lay in bed, still suffering from the Spade Flue, but he couldn't understand what they were saying. It was just chatter in his head as he continued to experience his horrid fever dream of being trapped in the infamous, long abandoned asylum of Arkham, Massachusetts. He saw the doctors and patients still roaming the grimy, dilapidated hallways but knew they weren't really there, only the residuals of their spirits repeating the same actions over and over for all eternity.

Outside his addled brain, Star and Jackie both loomed over Marco, his face still a sickly violet color.

"He can recover from this, right?" Jackie asked.

"Oh, yeah," Star said, "most people do. There was a time when it really plagued us, which was apparently shortly after Eclipsa's apparent death. So, because it kinda coincided with each other, they started calling it the Spade Flu after her cheek marks."

"That's...creepy," Jackie shuddered.

"Don't worry!" Star exclaimed, picking up a large bowl full of weird items that culminated in a purple mush, "Since then, we've found different home remedies for it! I mixed in mushrooms from the Forest of Certain Death, black licorice jasmine, and swamp seaweed!"

"I'm going to be honest," Jackie began, "that sounds like it would taste terrible." She then leaned over Star's lap, smelled it, and grimaced. "Ugh, it doesn't smell too great either."

"Hey, at least it works," Star said. She then reached for Marco's head, but Jackie beat her to it. Jackie lifted Marco's neck and tilted his head. Star then poured the strange chunky soup into his mouth, causing him to convulse and gag. Both girls were worried as their boy seemed to be in massive pain. Finally, his gyration ceased, allowing them both to breathe, as his face regained its normal color.

"Wow, Star," Jackie gasped, "That was amazing."

"Yeah, just something I learned to whip together," Star squeaked out with a content look on her face, and then she began worrying again, "Wait! I think I forgot the wet towel. His fever hasn't broke yet!"

"Actually, Star, you didn't," Jackie said, reaching over near the night stand to pull a towel out of the bowl of cold water. She then gently placed it on Marco's head, causing him to shiver a bit before calming back down.

"Oh, right," Star muttered sheepishly. She then grew anxious again. "Wait, his parents! We need to tell them where he is!"

"I actually beat you to that one," Jackie responded, "I told Angie and Raphael he was here and that the Butterflies were taking good care of him."

"You're already on a first name basis with them?"

"Why not?" Jackie asked, "There's no need to be so formal. I've technically known them for years whenever they would pick up Marco from kindergarten." She then tilted her head to the side and noticed how Star was looking at Marco; there was this unshakable concern written all over her face. It was the same sort of look one would have while watching a close family member suffer, worrying they could die at any second. Jackie broke the momentary silence. "Hey, Star, why don't you go take a rest? You've been running around all day like a chicken with its head cut off. I'll watch Marco and let you know if something happens, okay?"

"But, I..."

"No 'buts,'" Jackie interrupted, giving her a wink, "Go on and get some rest, girl. I've got him. Marco really is lucky to have such a good friend as you."

"Yeah," Star said, trying to smile, "I guess I am a...good friend,...aren't I?" She slowly got up and walked out of the room, her heart sinking as she proceeded into the darkness of the hallway. She made it a few feet from the door, then slumped down against the wall. She then looked back into the room where she could see Jackie holding Marco's clammy hands and kissing him on the cheek.

For a moment, she wanted to be in Jackie's place, thinking that should have been her.

Star put her head in her hands. She just couldn't handle all of the events that had just transpired. From losing the book, to the dimensional fabric tearing apart, to seeing Marco with Jackie, it was all too much. She could no longer help it; she wept. Tears began pooling in her palms as they attempted to roll down her cheeks. Her face felt like it was on fire, and the world outside of the darkness of her palms faded away to nothing.

"Star?" she heard Jackie's voice say from what sounded like two feet in front of her. She moved her hands and, sure enough, she saw Jackie's concerned face staring into her own. Jackie was kneeling down in front of her, attempting to stay at eye level with her. There was a burning sensation in her chest, a heaviness she could not shake. Her stomach felt heavier each second she saw Jackie's face. She didn't want her to see her like this.

"Oh, hey," Star responded, frantically wiping away the tears from her cheeks, "I thought you were still keeping an eye on Marco."

"I think he'll be fine," Jackie said, "but I don't think you are. You haven't been yourself since the other night. It might be a good idea for you and me to talk about it. We need to nip it in the bud."

"I'm just feeling overwhelmed is all," Star answered, "I've lost Glosseryk, my family's tome, and then there's the jump suited figures hopping out of dimensional portals here and there trying to capture these weird looking monsters, and..."

"I think there's something else," Jackie interrupted, her voice growing serious. She took Star by the hands and gently held them, albeit with some stiffness in her arms and shoulders. "Star, my awesome magical sister-in-arms, I have the utmost respect and adoration for you. I'm beyond grateful that I have the privilege of being your friend. Since you came to Echo Creek, life has become much more exciting and wild. But, I need to ask you something very important." Star's stomach felt like it was turning in knots, as did Jackie's. Both girls were nervous, but Jackie wasn't about to let that stop her. She needed to calm the situation down and would do what it took to keep the peace.

"I promise I won't be mad with whatever the answer is," Jackie continued, "as long as you're honest with me. I just...I need to know where I stand with you." She gave a deep inhale and exhale.

Jackie finally let the question fly from her lips:

"Star, do you like Marco?"

"Ha ha, of course I do!" Star laughed nervously, "He's my best human friend. He makes me nachos, tries to cheer me up when I'm down, helps me fight monsters, goes on random adventures with me, watches odd things on television for Friendship Thursday..."

Jackie gave Star a disbelieving look, one that a teacher might give a student who is trying to give a nonsensical answer after having not read any of the lesson material. It was the type of gaze as if to say, "You know what I mean."

Star's eyes welled up with tears once again. She immediately looked down at the floor in shame.

"Yes!" she heard herself yelp, "I do! I do…I do like Marco...I do..." She continued to bawl uncontrollably. What would Jackie think of her now? She just admitted her feelings to the girlfriend of the boy she liked. She couldn't face her. She kept her face buried between her knees, staring at the floor before finally shutting her eyes tightly and letting the massive flood of tears fall onto her dress, her boots, and the carpet below.

Suddenly, Star saw a hand in front of her face, two of its fingers touching her chin in an attempt to raise her head. Jackie gently pushed Star's head back up to face her at eye level.

"It's okay, Star," Jackie said with a smile, trying desperately not to cry herself at seeing Star like this, "And I'm not mad. Look at my face; do I look mad?"

"No," Star gasped and gave a nervous laugh while still sniveling, "but you look like you're about to turn into me any second." Jackie laughed, too. The two girls hugged each other, one of which Jackie initiated, as Star obviously needed it.

"To be honest with you," Jackie began, "I was actually slightly jealous of you for awhile there, but I tried not to let it get to me. There was maybe a small part of me that liked Marco as well; I mean, I've known the boy since forever and a day. And those cat pictures he sent me? Those weren't anonymous; I knew very well they were from him. I was waiting for him to talk to me, but he never did until you coaxed him into doing it. I really thought the two of you were a couple or would be eventually. You just seem to click with each other so well that I didn't think I could compete, so I moved on. But then, at your sleepover, he admitted he liked me, and I...I really had to think about how I felt. Maybe give this a shot, you know?" She paused to take a breath as Star continued to watch her, "But I really don't want to come between you two, either. What the two of you have, it's...indescribable. And if it came down to it, if you two make each other happy, I won't stand in your way. I promise."

"Thanks, Jackie," Star said, a smile finally returning to her face, "It's also, just...you're so pretty and cool and perfect..."

"Excuse me. Perfect?" Jackie asked rhetorically while putting a finger to Star's lips to shush her, "Let me stop you right there. Both you and Marco seem to be putting me on a pedestal, and it's making me uncomfortable. It's doing both me and you a disservice because, one, you're not seeing me as a real person, and two, you're downplaying your own coolness...both of you are." She paused as Star looked back down at the floor, contemplating what she just said. "Trust me. If you and Marco think I'm some perfect sea goddess or something, you've got another thing coming."

There was still an awkward silence in the air. Jackie broke it.

"But, Star," she continued, "you probably already knew this, but it cuts both ways. I'm trying to take into account how we both feel, but Marco's feelings matter, too. And if it's me that he chooses to continue dating, I need you to respect and understand that. And I'm sure Marco's happiness matters to you, too, right?"

"Yes, it does..." Star sighed before biting her lip and looking back down at the carpet.

"But, like I said," Jackie finally concluded, "I really don't want to lose your friendship, either. With all that's happened, with all that's at stake right now, it'd be crazy to fight over a boy right now. Just...maybe we can make this a friendly rivalry, okay?" She gave Star another wink.

"I could live with that," Star said, giving her signature smile.

"Well," Jackie responded, standing to her feet and yawning before grabbing her skateboard at the end of the hallway towards the staircase, "I think you and the castle staff have things under control here. I should probably head home. Your mom has a pair of scissors that could get me home, right?"

"Yeah," Star replied, musing a moment about everything from the day's events. "Those jump-suited things, they almost called me 'mom' at one point. Since then, my brain has been all spinny at the possibilities of who and what they could be. Could they be my kids from the distant future or some other reality? I just don't know..."

"Really, Star," Jackie followed, "I wouldn't worry so much about it. Whoever they are, wherever they're from, you can't let it affect who you are and what decisions you still have yet to make in your life. Because that's what it is: your life. You have the free will to choose what you want to do and how you want to do things. You're not bound by fate to do this or that. You might be stuck being queen one day, but you can still do things your way and be yourself."

"That...also sounds familiar," Star muttered. Thoughts of Marco popped back into her head.

"Your friend speaks wisdom," Moon said from the staircase, passing Jackie along the way, "After all, freedom of choice is the only way you can be held responsible for your actions, be they good or bad. During my last discussion with Glosseryk, he made me realize that I've been doing something that I know you hate: I've been underestimating you. You're growing so fast and making better decisions, even in this past year." She approached Star and put her hand on her shoulder to calm her. "And I know I don't say it often enough, but I think you need to hear that I do indeed trust in you and believe in you. One day, you're going to make a fantastic queen, all while still keeping your individuality."

"Thanks, mom," Star replied, and the nervous feeling in her gut returned once more, "but I have something I need to tell you...It's about the book..."

"We already know, dear," Moon interjected, "We've been seeing more evidence of someone using Eclipsa's magic throughout Mewni. It seems to be haphazard, random, almost as if someone is treating it like a toy and not fully in control of it."

"So you're not mad that I lost it?" Star asked.

"You were attacked, sweetie," Moon replied, "and from what I have heard, you defended yourself quite well. It's this Ludo character that we've also regretfully underestimated. And now he's amassed more power on a very dangerous scale. Besides, it's not like you had lost the book through negligence like..."

"Like your mother did at your age," River interrupted while climbing the stairs, "when she dropped it down that wormhole."

"Ha, you still remember that, darling?" Moon laughed.

"You lost the book, mom?" Star asked.

"Oh, she certainly did," River bellowed, "It was during one of our past adventures. We had been fighting some horrid unknown creature with several rows of teeth and billiard balls for eyes when upon driving it back into the world from which it came, the book was also sucked in along with the beast. It took us a week to find a way to travel to the monster's homeworld, where we ended up finding Glossaryk sharing corn chips with some triangular-shaped demon who claimed dominion over that realm. Of course, he attacked us as soon as we announced we were taking Glossaryk home; we barely made it home unscathed."

"I was just glad to be home," Moon continued, "Their realm gave me a massive headache. Either way, we are already developing a plan to reacquire the lost tomb and detain Ludo indefinitely. Besides all that..." Moon shook her head for a moment and waved her hand, trying to refocus her attention, "my point is that no matter what happens tomorrow or the next day, we're all here for you, Star, no matter what."

"Same goes for your Earth friends," Jackie interjected, "we're with you 'til the end."

"Thanks everyone," Star said, looking up at each of them, "Now we have to wait for Marco to feel better."

Star was beyond appreciative of how everyone was trying to cheer her. For a moment, she forgot everything that had transpired over the past two days; all the nightmare creatures, weird portals, and robot-voiced people drifted out of her mind. She also knew deep down that as long as Marco and Jackie were dating, she would always feel jealous of them, but at least now, having expressed her feelings and Jackie being remarkably, almost unrealistically understanding about it at least helped her cope with it a little better.

But ultimately, there were more pressing matters that demanded her attention. As soon as Marco was well, she was determined that the two of them would follow Buff Frog's instructions and raid the cave.

 **To be continued after "Starcrushed." Now, back to writing more Gravity Falls...**


	6. Marco's Resolve

**Finally finished! I'm actually praying that I've come close to following the finale's shocking conclusion and that you all enjoy it. Took me all week to finish this one; with how busy I am, I had to fight for my writing time on this one, but I was bound and determined to get it done by the end of the week. Anyways, enjoy! My bizarre series has returned!**

"Lord Sanenori said, 'In the midst of a single breath, where perversity cannot be held, is the Way.' If so, then the Way is one. But there is no one who can understand this clarity at first. Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort." - Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: the Way of the Samurai"

She's gone. That's all Marco could think as he sat on the bed of the guest room that used to be the mini-palace Star had created from her imagination. The biggest question that he couldn't figure out in the past 15 minutes was a simple matter of why. She had disappeared up the stairs, waving her arms like a mad woman before he could get the real reason from her.

And before she left, he knew the truth about how she felt.

Way to spring that on a guy after he finally started dating his crush since kindergarten. But had she told him earlier, perhaps on the night of the Blood Moon, would he have reciprocated? Would things be different now?

"Star? Marco?" he heard Jackie shout from the staircase as she ran to find find them, only to be greeted with a contemplative Marco and a wide gaping hole in the wall and ceiling, giving way to the night air and the night sky over the suburban Southern California town. "Dude..." she softly moaned, "is it alright if I sit next to you?"

"Yeah..." Marco sighed, "I guess it is." Jackie walked into what was left of the room and sat on the bed next to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment before darting up to make an attempt to say something.

"I..." Jackie began, "I don't even know what to say about all this, dude." Her attempt obviously failed.

"Neither do I," Marco responded.

"Just..." she continued, "her timing couldn't be worse, you know? But then, was there ever going to be a good time to spring that on you?"

"You talk like you knew about this."

"I..." she stuttered, hesitating but then realizing it didn't matter at this point, "...I actually knew she loved you at least."

"What!?" Marco yelped and turned to face her with a shocked and agitated expression, "And you didn't say anything?"

"Because it wasn't my place to say anything," she replied, "And I think you can at least understand that, right? I've known since a few months ago, after you got that weird flu. She and I had a little talk in the hallway outside. I think...she's liked you for a long time. But I at least got to have a long talk with her mom before she took me home. Moon is a very awesome woman, by the way. I think I can see a little of myself in her."

"I guess you're right," Marco said, "I just wish she had been up front with me since the beginning, just maybe communicated a little more and kept fewer secrets."

"Well, look at it this way, man," Jackie retorted, "Had we not gotten trapped in that box, would you have ever admitted your crush on me?"

"You have a point," Marco groaned out lowly.

"See, dude?" she asked rhetorically, patting the boy's shoulder, "It wasn't easy for you, and it was probably much harder for her after she saw that we were dating and that those feelings might not be exchanged."

"Right, I get it," Marco said, "but what I don't get is why she had to go back to Mewni. There's no reason she wouldn't tell me, unless she wanted to keep me safe somehow."

"And that's what I want to know, too," Janna said from the doorway before entering the room as well. Pony Head, Kelly, and Starfan13 followed her. "She could have at least given an excuse as to why. I've turned that into an art for cutting class."

"YO, EARTH TURD!" Pony Head yelled (as she did with most of the sentences that escaped her lips), "WHY DON'T YOU USE THOSE HEKAPOO BRANDED SCISSORS OF YOURS TO GO SEARCH FOR OUR HOME GIRL!?"

"Yeah, Marco," Starfan13 croaked, her voice somehow sounding more gravely when she was upset, "Don't you want to bring her back so I can...I mean we can see her again forever and ever? Aren't you secretly in love with her, too, like my life fanfic says you are?" She then looked over at Jackie and realized her mistake. "Uh, oh..."

Marco buried his head in his hands, contemplating what Starfan13 had just said. Did he actually feel that way for Star as well? It seemed like had been thrown in his face constantly, from Tom's jealously from day one, to the over-the-top, bombastic abomination of embarrassment that was Song Day. But was there some truth to it? It was now evident from Star's end. But where did that leave Jackie? He turned his head to look at her, fingers still on his forehead, and saw that same look of anxiety on her face when Star made her big announcement.

"It's okay, dude." Jackie said half-heartedly but still managing to form a smile and give Marco a comforting pat on the back, "You're confused; I get it." At least with Jackie, he knew where he stood; when he thought about it, she had been straightforward with him. He was learning she had her own odd tendencies, but so did most of the people in his life.

He chose not to acknowledge Starfan13's question and changed the subject, lifting his head out of his hands to address the room's occupants.

"One thing I'm worried about," Marco began again, realizing that he did worry about quite many a thing, "is whether or not one of those weird portals is going to open up here again and flood more of those weird monsters Tom didn't even recognize into Echo Creek,"

"BOY, YOU WORRY TOO MUCH!" Pony Head shouted, "THERE ARE BIGGER THINGS HERE, LIKE STAR DISAPPEARING FOR NO GOOD REASON!"

"Bigger than the universe collapsing?" Jackie asked.

"MUCH BIGGER!" Pony Head returned with another boisterous yell, "THAT GIRL IS THE WORLD TO US, MAN!"

"She's right," Marco responded, "I haven't seen another random tear like that in months, at least not one that Hekapoo or I had made. And even still, Star would be the most equipped to deal with it if that did happen again."

"I beg to differ," Janna interjected, "I've actually gotten quite better at demon hunting with Tom over the months. Plus, I'm getting to be a better shot with that alien gun I found."

"So, you and Tom, eh?" Starfan13 mused with a hint of excitement, "Are you two, like, a thing now? Is Star okay with that? I heard he can be kind of a grouch, so watch out."

"Hmmm, I don't know if we're a 'thing' yet," Janna replied, although she wondered if it wouldn't have been such a bad thing if they were, "But we've been rounding up all the demons Ludo released from the vault; I think I for one could hold my own against any mi-go, shoggoth, or elder thing that decided to rear its ugly, indescribable head. Plus, if Tom does decide to give me any attitude, he's learned I'm going to throw it right back in his face."

"I'll hold down the fort here on Earth, too," Kelly said.

"We can't ask you to do that," Marco answered, "I'm sure you need to get back to your homeworld."

"Sure I could," Kelly responded, "I'm a tougher fighter than I look. I've been doing some weekly training with my dire wolf buddy at home; Tad even comes along sometimes when he feels like it." She looked down for a moment, wondering when she would see him again and fill the opening in her hair once more; that bald spot was really annoying and a little depressing. She looked up and got back on subject. "But yeah, I'd love to see what your summers are like here. It could be fun."

"But, girls, I think we're all forgetting one thing here," Marco said, addressing the room, "There's always been a method to Star's madness. If she ran off without telling us, maybe there was a good reason for that? Would we be going against her wish if we chase after her?"

"Well, how about this?" Janna began with frustration in her voice, "Why don't you think long and hard about what you want to do, and we'll all get some rest and decide on a plan of action tomorrow. I feel like she at least needs to give us some explanation as to why she had to go back to Mewni and just leave us all in the dark. And if she's in trouble, we're gonna help her. But do what you like, man. We've got all summer to rescue our friend, be it from some eldritch abomination or herself."

And with that, the friends left the room to go home for the night, leaving Marco to his thoughts. As Jackie passed him, she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"And think about this, too, dude," she said as sweet as she could, though there was some nervousness in her tone, "Don't let me hold you back from what you want, either. If you want to be with Star, I'll get out of the way. I just want both of you to be happy. But...I'm always here if you need me."

She then left the room, leaving Marco once again alone, the silence filling the air like poisonous chlorine gas. What was to be done? He needed to gather his thoughts. He then did what he had always done before each karate lesson: he crossed his legs, put his hands on his knees, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

The guests left the party, chatting with each other while either getting into their parents respective cars or walking home. As Janna bid her friends goodnight and agreed with them on coming up with her own plan tomorrow, she walked down the path from the front porch to the sidewalk. She made it a few steps before discovering Tom in front of her, paying her no mind as he vigorously shook his leg that he had caught on the strap of a large keytar. It wasn't that the strap for the instrument was fully attached to it so much as it was the remnants of the strap that had somehow made its way around Tom's ankle.

"Ugh, who put this here?" Tom asked the midnight air as she shook it from his leg, sending it flying into the neighbor's bushes and causing a stray cat to shriek in fright. He then looked over to see Janna giggling at his misfortune. "Hey, babe. Been awhile."

"Hey, Hellboy," Janna replied, jumping towards him and throwing his arms around his neck.

"Are you going to greet me like that every time."

"Well, when you go missing for two weeks," she said, hopping down.

"And it was two weeks well spent," Tom followed, "After searching those tunnels you told me about, I finally found and caught the Demogorgon."

"Wow, finally!" Janna yelled in excitement as the two walked towards Tom's skeleton horse-drawn carriage, "Was he tough?"

"Not as tough as you might think," Tom said. He then took out of his pocket a small, clear capsule; in it was a now shrunken version of the Demogorgon struggling to escape.

"That's awesome," Janna replied, "I wish I could keep a horde of monsters in my pocket." The two eventually stepped into the carriage and shut the door behind them. The undead horse almost immediately raced down the road past the cars and on ahead into the people-less streets of the Echo Creek suburbs.

"So, we've got a few more demons to go?" Janna asked, sitting next to Tom on the couch.

"I think we only have two more," Tom said, "The next one is, I think, hiding underneath the Disney Concert Hall. He looks like Mickey Mouse, except his colors are reversed. Apparently, he likes taking his own head off in front of people and grossing them out, which doesn't sound too incredibly threatening at first, but apparently a massive group of people have gone missing throughout the past century after coming across him."

"That sounds...odd but intriguing," Janna replied, getting up from the couch and walking to the door. She rolled down the window and looked to the night's sky once again. He watched as the breeze blew through the hair that jutted from her hat. He looked at her boots, how she had one foot planted and the other behind her, moving her foot back and forth on its toe. He was wondering what would happen if he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, questioning how she would respond to it. He didn't want to ruin anything with her if he did or said the wrong thing.

Since when has that stopped him? He wondered to himself.

"Hey," Tom began, "After all this is done, do you...still want to keep hanging out?" She turned around to face him, the moonlight shining in her eyes.

"Yeah," Janna replied, "I think I would."

"I always seem to have a good time with you," Tom continued, "And, dare I say, I feel a bit calmer when you're around."

"And I still feel I can let go and be myself around you," Janna followed, "Plus, you've got all this creepy, cool paraphernalia around. It's just awesome."

Just then, out of the corner of Janna's eye was someone walking across the street, five seconds away from Mr. Skeleton Horse running into them.

"Whoa, stop!" Janna desperately cried, poking her head out the window, but it was far too late. The undead horse was not going to stop in time. And in that same instance, Janna could see who it was: one of the jump-suited figures, particularly the one with the wand. Also in that same instance, the figure was quick to react, despite not being perceptive enough to notice the enormous skeletal beast rocketing towards them.

"Fluffy rabbit jump!" the figure shouted in its robot voice, aiming their wand down and rocketing over the carriage in a 180 degree arc. Unfortunately, despite their wand being at the ready, the figure was not able to make a landing pad from the wand. "Oh, CRAP!" it shouted as it face planted into the asphalt with a loud crack.

Janna and Tom vacated the carriage immediately to investigate. They saw the jump-suited figure rise to its feet, seemingly trying to get its head straight again. It was also trying to speak, but all that came out was garbled static. Where the tinted eyepiece was, they could see what looked like a humanoid face through the heavy cracks. The figure decided to lose the facade, as communication and visibility were more important. If there were any paradoxes or minds that needed to be erased, it was better equipped for it now.

It removed its helmet, revealing it to be a woman in her mid 20's with long brunette hair, all of it flowing out mangled with various split ends. Of course, that's what one gets for not tying it back in a confined helmet. Her brown eyes looked in the direction of Janna and Tom, who quickly noticed the crescent moon symbol on her cheeks and the small mole underneath her right eye.

"Um, hi," Janna said awkwardly, "Sorry for almost hitting you. I don't supposed you know a Star Butterfly do you?" To this, the woman responded with a groan, rubbing her palm on her face in frustration.

"Not necessarily your Star," she replied, "But since you mentioned it, I've gotta do something. It's not personal. Trust me." She then waved her want in a circular motion while spinning around like some ballerina. She then pointed the wand at them and shouted, "Memory eraser!" Out of her wand came what looked like a small pencil eraser made of pink light that eventually made its way through the air and poked Janna in the forehead.

It did not affect the situation in the slightest, but Janna could not for the life of her remember the joke she told Star in math class a month ago.

"If you were trying to wipe our minds," Janna said, "I don't think you wiped the right memory." The woman moaned, rolled her eyes, and threw her hands in the air.

"Of course it wouldn't work," the woman said, "These high-end spells never work the first time I try them."

"What did I tell you, Selene?" the other jump-suited figure shouted in its robot voice from a bush across the street, "You should have listened to Glossaryck a bit closer and tested the spell out before you left."

"Thanks, Sol," Selene (as she was apparently known) yelled back in a sarcastic tone, "Just pay attention to what you're doing and catch that little gremlin guy who scratched me earlier. He's got those stumpy legs. How far can he run?"

"He's small," Sol (as he was apparently known) shouted back through the robot voice filter, "He can hide pretty easy,"

"Wait, wait wait..." Janna stammered, patting the air with her hands, "You guys know where Glossaryck is?"

"Not necessarily your Glossaryck," Selene answered.

"Oh, man, I've got so many questions," Janna said.

"And I wish I could answer them," Selene responded, "but right now, we're a little busy. There's a gremlin from a different reality that we're hunting. He was last spotted in this vicinity."

"Can we help?" Janna asked with some eagerness.

"I'm down with that," Tom interjected, generating two fireballs from his hands, "Wouldn't mind frying some gremlin head."

"You're welcome to help," Selene said, "But no burning. We need to catch him alive and send him back to wherever he came from. Otherwise, this universe gets a paradox burn, and your head turns into a duck for no reason."

Janna looked over at Tom, who looked a little disappointed, and imagined what he would look like as a duck.

"All right," Janna sighed, "I guess we should get introductions out of the way. I'm Janna Ordonia, and this is Tom."

"A pleasure," Selene replied, "That guy over there is my younger brother Sol..." she then waved her wand and made an image of a rainbow above her head before taking a bow. "...And I'm Selene Butterfly-Diaz, at your service." The rainbow then exploded with a loud boom, causing the group to scatter.

Marco continued to meditate into the night. Raphael and Angie passed the door to the guest room to check on him as he sat in the dark. This was slightly disturbing to them, to see their son in such an unresponsive state until they heard his heavy breathing and realized what had happened to him.

He heard their feet scuffling and felt something lifting him through the blackness. He felt as if he were flying through space before finally feeling some soft, peaceful landing.

"Good night, son," Angie called to him, "Sweet dreams. We're always here if you need to talk in the morning." He could hear her but could not see her. Her voice was a droning sound in his head as he drifted through the blackness of his own mind. Where was this taking him?

He thought of what it really meant to lose Star, what she had meant to him through the past school year. He thought of the long nights he would meditate on the hills of the savage land where Hekapoo dwelt. How he would watch fires on the distant hills and wondering if those were fellow travelers or marauders, ready to pounce on him at any moment. But above all, he had a purpose then, which was to return something that belonged to Star.

She meant that much to him; he would travel to the ends of the earth and back to make things right for her. Perhaps he had lost that purpose as he traveled, thinking that he could continue through the wastelands as a lone wolf. Once he had seen Star's face, however, he remembered his reason for the chase, and that making her happy was what mattered most to him, and spending a life without her was not something he wanted to endure.

This thought, however, did raise another fear in him. Was he too codependent on this beautiful otherworldly princess he called his friend? Was she taking away from his sense of self and limiting his growth as an individual?

A drizzling rain interrupted this thought as he felt drops of water from a dark cloudy sky begin to fall on him. He opened his eyes to find himself sitting in the road of a small town on the edge of a high nearby mountain. With the slanted roofs and the dilapidated look of this shanty town, it made him think of some of the town's of Hekapoo's world, and for a moment, he thought he was back there. Then he noticed how green the foliage of the neighboring forests were and realized this was not the case.

The streets were busy with people moving here and there, not so much running but rather going about their simple lives. Many wore straw hats to protect them from the rain. Marco decided to go to one of the nearby booths and found an old man with a long mustache serving drinks.

"What'll it be, son?" the old man asked.

"Jasmine tea," Marco replied, which the old man brought to him after some moments. (His voice seemed deeper than usual) He paid the man in jade coins and decided to clarify his intent. "I'm looking for the great master who lives in these mountains. May I ask where specifically he may reside?"

"Why, up the very mountain next to this town, my boy," the old man laughed, "Many have come seeking him, but all have either died or come back from the climb as cowards."

"Very well," Marco said, "Thank you for the information and the tea. You can be sure that I will be the first one to see him."

Marco then left the town, putting up the hood of his jacket to protect his vision from the rain. He proceeded across the old rope bridge that led to the mountain, took a deep breath, and began to climb the massive piece of earth. The climb took what seemed like hours, and patches of mist made it difficult to see. He felt as if his arms would give out any second until he found a small niche in the rocks to rest and catch his breath. Looking down through the large patches of mists, he could see the vast mountain range, all covered in vast green forests traveling off into the distance before the fog obscured them. He thought that he could smell the potent scent of plum blossoms wafting through the air.

Regaining his breath and his composure, he left the cliff side and proceeded to jump upward to the next rock, continuing his climb.

Throughout this time, he did wonder, if this wise old hermit had made it to the top of this mountain to live, how was it that no one else could have done the same?

He pushed logic aside as he almost lost his grip when a rock fell and hit his hand. He looked down, which was a tremendous mistake, as he could see below him was the far drop that sent his brain reeling. The worst part was that he could not see the bottom, which the mist so graciously obscured. He threw his hand up, reclaimed his grip on the rock, and proceeded up.

At last, he found that he was nearing the end of his journey, as the top of the mountain came into view. He pushed his head over and, pulling himself up by his elbow and forearm, found a man sitting in front of a fire put together with large pine branches. As Marco finally stood atop the mountain, the man he sought noticed his presence and stood as well. He recognized the man's face.

It was the same face he saw when he looked in the mirror during his time in Hekapoo's realm.

With that, the man immediately vanished. Marco was once again alone.

He was confused at first what this could possibly mean, but after a moment's thought, it all became clear to him. There was only one thing to do. He walked over to the fireplace and sat. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and began to meditate once more.

He drifted through the blackness of his mind again. He knew that he was still himself, that he still understood his place in the universe in spite of how much he enjoyed having Star in his life. But he also knew that he was not about to abandon her. No, she did not need a hero, but she still needed her friend, and he would be there for her to the bitter end. What could have caused her to leave? He remembered her telling him about finding Toffee's finger lodged inside of her wand somehow. Could this mean that he was returning? It was no matter. They had faced him once, and they would face him again together.

He opened his eyes to find that he was now lying in his bed. Apparently his parents had picked him up and placed him in his own room to sleep. It was, however, still in the middle of the night. He looked out his window to once again see so many stars in the vast night's sky.

But he knew what he needed to do now. He sent an instant message chat request to all his friends to let them know of his new plan. Had been thinking clearer, texting would have been easier, but his mind was still muddled and the Love Sentence Amino app was the first thing he saw when he unlocked his phone.

RedBeltDiaz said:

I'm using the scissors and am going to find Star. I'll let you know when I do.

He began to change clothes and prepare for the journey. It did not take long at all before he received several replies.

MermaidSkaterJLT said:

Glad to hear it. Make sure she comes back safe and in one piece. Also, I've thought about it, and there's quite a few things I need to talk to her about, just girl-to-girl. There are things I need to apologize for and a few things I'm not happy about with her.

JanBanana00 said:

That's the spirit. Good boy. She doesn't get to run off like that and abandon her friends without at least some explanation. Bring her back safe, okay? BTW, I think Tom and I ran into some relatives of yours. You've got to meet them.

Starfan13-13 (apparently, she had to get another account) said:

OMG, STAR'S KNIGHT IS GOING TO SAVE HER!1 OH, I"M SO EXCItEd! BRING BACK OUR BEAUtifUl StAr MARCO!

He closed his phone and pocketed it. He pulled the scissors from his hoodie, sighed, and opened a portal with them. He thought once again about the last thing she said to him. What if she was wrong? Maybe he did feel the same way. If that were the case, he would be sure not to lead Jackie on and tell her right away. He did, however, still need to sort this out, but at the moment, there were bigger things afoot. He took a deep inhale and exhaled it slowly, finally allowing himself to step through the portal to Mewni.


	7. Street Fighting Man

**Finished at last. Hope you enjoy. So what would everyone like to see for the next chapter, now that the group is divided? More Star, Marco, and Moon or more Janna, Tom, and the future Butterfly-Diaz characters?**

"And you may ask yourself\What is that beautiful house?\And you may ask yourself\Where does that highway go to?\And you may ask yourself\Am I right? Am I wrong?\And you may say yourself, 'My God! What have I done?'" – Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"

As Marco stepped through the portal, he immediately discovered that his foot was not indeed landing on anything solid. He found himself now falling through the portal and landing on something five feet below the portal's point of origin. (Seriously, why were half the portals he stepped through for the past few months hanging a few feet in the air rather than on the ground level?)

Of course, the landing on which he now found himself was soft and comfortable. It was still the middle of the night, and his fatigue seemed to prevent him from having the desire to move. From his immediate surroundings, he could see an open door which led to a balcony with what must have been a low stone guard railing, as he could still see so many stars of the night sky and a hint of tree line from it. Looking in the opposite direction, he could see a small vertically rectangular window that revealed even more bright stars from it.

As his eyes adjusted, he could see there were huge piles of something throughout the room. He had at first thought this may have been Star's room, as he was focusing on her when he opened the portal, but this room was too messy, even for her standards of keeping her room in disarray. There seemed to be what looked like a large stone object in front of him, which was near the aforementioned opened door to his left. He thought it was some sort of brick kiln but wasn't sure.

Either way, he was tired, and whatever he was laying in was soft and comfortable. It felt silky to the touch and as soft as his bed. He shut his eyes once more and fell asleep.

While Marco slept, elsewhere in the castle was the royal family, each baring the weight of their own restless brain.

In the king and queen's chamber, even after hours of staring, Moon still looked out over the balcony on the kingdom of which she currently ruled, the one of which her daughter would soon rule, a king by her side or not. She watched the people scurry about as one would watch an ant colony scurry through its earthen maze, trying to understand its existence and going about the routine it had set forth.

Tonight, however, the ants were restless. Despite the distance, she could still hear the cries of anger from the streets below, all calling for a revolution. It was no surprise there would be a potential uprising against the royal order after what had occurred on Song Day. Ruberiot of course faced his sentence tomorrow, but Moon would leave it in Star's hands, as it was only fair that the princess would be passed the call to judgment of the man who wrote her "princess song." He had revealed so many royal and political secrets to the Mewni citizens that it was bordering on treason. It seemed only fitting to keep the man in lockup.

But the problem still remained for Moon and River that they had violated the trust of the Mewni people and the high commission, but of course the latter didn't matter as much now that each were...incapacitated.

Moon cringed at the thought of how she had hurt the people for whom she cared so much.

River watched her from the bed, simply examining her unnerved manner. Nonetheless he still studied her over; she was wearing her light blue silk nightgown; he loved how it flowed from her still gorgeous figure. It fit her naturally, forming around every curve of the woman he loved.

"Dear, why do you not come to bed?" he asked her, "Let tomorrow worry about itself. Right now, you need your rest if you are to address our kingdom in full form in the morning." He walked over towards her, reached up, and placed his firm hand upon her shoulder.

"My dear, sweet River," she said, reaching up to touch his hand, as his touch always gave her comfort, "I appreciate the concern and the sentiment, but the fact of the matter is that the people we were meant to both serve and rule have lost their faith in us. We were keeping what amounted to a doomsday threat from them, and once that secret was out, they now have reason to distrust us."

"Are you second guessing our decision to prevent a mass panic?" River continued his questions, "It was this level of disillusionment that we were attempting to prevent with our people."

"No, I still hold to that," Moon replied, "But now that we've done it, I'm beginning to regret the outcome."

"Know this, my queen," River said, moving around her to take both of her hands and look into her eyes, "I have and always will be your best friend, your right-hand man, your lover, and your fellow ruler. We may have begun small, but we have been through so much over the decades. Whatever tomorrow may bring, know that I am always right there ready to share the burden with you."

"Indeed we shall," Moon replied, "but it doesn't lessen the impact."

"Then let your brain recover through the night," River continued his persuasion with her to relax, "Save tomorrow for tomorrow and don't worry so much about it. We still have tonight to breathe, rest, and prepare."

Moon turned her head to the side, trying not to look at the ground below again. She finally instead looked back up at River and embraced him.

"You're right, dear husband," she said, holding him tight, "Then to bed with us. Tomorrow, we will make our case to the people." The two left the balcony and proceeded to the darkness of the room to spend the rest of the night's hours in a state of quiescence.

On a lower balcony, yet still high above the disquieted kingdom, was the distraught heroine of many and future queen, Star Butterfly. She watched alone as the fits of anger in the streets below continued into the night, recognizing that she was in part responsible for it. Had she chosen her words more carefully, would things still be okay? No, the High Commission at the very least needed to know her blunder and Moon's secret. But the Mewni people did not. This reveal now caused a mass panic that even for days would not be quelled.

And the one boy who could have helped her through it was out of her life forever.

All she could do was weep.

But she would not let this deter her; she was stronger than that. She knew it and had demonstrated this over the course of the past year. She forced herself to stop crying and knew she needed to build her strength for tomorrow. She had scrambled together at such short notice to make her own speech to the Mewni people, knowing they needed to at least hear a message of hope from their "perfect little princess." She walked back inside and sat on the bed to finish writing it, chewing on the tip of the pen as she did.

She now knew that's what Song Day meant to do, inspire hope for the future. While the prior songs were trite, overly fluffy, and unrealistic, they were still something that gave the people confidence in their ruler and a promise that the next ruler of the land would allow them and their land to prosper. She had destroyed that for them, and now Ruberiot was locked in the dungeon, awaiting her judgment tomorrow as well.

Star was a flawed individual, as all people and things throughout the multiverse were, but she wouldn't allow her vulnerabilities to show again. That old saying, "Never let them see you bleed," rang through her head.

"It's time for tough Star," she said to herself, although the reality was that she was always strong, partially because of her flaws. There was some majesty in living on wit and reckless impulse, but she would not allow this behavior to go unchecked. "It's time to grow up! Big girl time! They're all going to see how strong, smart, and mature I am. All of them! Mom and dad, the people of Mewni, that weird Toffee-Ludo hybrid, Marco..."

She caught herself on the name.

Of course, Marco wouldn't see, as they would never see each other again.

She felt another well of emotion flooding her. She made an attempt to choke back more tears, but it was no use. Her heart literally hurt, and she clutched her chest in a vain attempt to stifle it. She felt as if part of her was missing, a broken half of a whole, much like her wand.

She wrapped herself in her fine linen blankets, buried her head in the soft pillows, and cried herself to sleep one last time. She would refuse to cry like this again, but for tonight, it was alright. She needed to feel the pain of loss for her dear lost friend, who could have been more than that had she made different choices. Eventually, her energy ran its course, and sleep overtook her.

Marco awoke to the dim sunlight streaming through the doorway to the balcony. As he stirred, he was greeted with a pair of frilly silk bikini briefs rolling onto his face.

"Gah!" he shouted, his shock and embarrassment sending him scrambling to his feet. He discovered that the soft pile on which he had slept was the royal's laundry. Whether it was Star's or Moon's, it didn't matter. His mortification remained the same.

Either way, he knew he had to get out of there.

He noticed the stone apparatus that he had seen the night before was some sort of ancient washer. He nearly tripped over it as he turned around. In front of him on the far wall was another wooden door opening to reveal the washer woman coming in with another load of laundry.

"Whater' ye doin' in here, lad?" she asked him with a look of shock.

"I..." Marco stammered, "I just got lost and ended up passing out in here last night."

"Uh huh, I'm sure," the lady said, giving him a wink, "Anyways, off with ye now. I got work te do before the queen and princess give their speeches before the angry mob."

Marco did as he was told and left the room. He found himself in front of a large stone spiral staircase which he then proceeded down. If Star was going up against the angry Mewni community, he wanted to at least make sure she was okay. The stairs led to a long blue and red carpeted hallway, large oval windows to Marco's right giving it plenty of lighting. Marco looked out one of the many vast windows at the ground below him. A huge multitude of mewmans were gathered around the castle, carrying various angry-looking signs. The windows, thankfully, were at a low enough elevation to allow the signs to be legible.

Among the signs' phrases were the following: "Lie of Omission is still a lie," "Off to our doom with no warning," and "Who Watches the Watchmen?"

He ran down the hall with the hope that he would be in time for the speech. Who knew what could happen if he let Star have to face these angry people, at least without a large escort? He eventually found a door at the end of the hall, only to jiggle the handle and find it to be locked. To his left, however, was some indentation in the wall. He pressed it and found it led to a secret door to the wooden rafters of the royal court hall. No inhibition would keep him from proceeding along the wooden beams over the heads of the 50 knight escort of the royal family, all of whom were beginning their procession from the thrones out to the courtyard in front of the castle, Star following closely behind her mother.

Marco thought again and wondered if Star really needed all this protection given her fighting prowess and the almost limitless power of the wand.

There was a band behind the knights, all playing heavy drums, guitars, and bagpipes. It sounded similar to the familiar tune of "Scotland the Brave," but several of the notes didn't quite match. It seemed to be something to either inspire courage in the knights and Butterfly family or to intimidate the protestors.

Marco had thought about dropping down from the rafters to follow them but decided against it and waited for them to leave. He didn't want his presence known just yet; the right time for his big reveal was sure to come.

When he finally did leave, he gracefully and carefully made his way along the side of the wall and hopped down, darting his way across the room and peering around the door before slipping in with the crowd of onlookers. Despite the turmoil from the streets, there was something else that was bothering Marco, some other feeling of dread he could not place, a fear of the unknown he was unable to shake. It was as if some unseen pair of hands were behind him ready to grab him at any moment.

There was also a subtle ringing in his ear, but he just dismissed it as the crowd making their ear- piercing cries.

Star followed her parents towards the podium, peeking out from behind Moon to glance at it. To her, it may as well have been a hanging gallows. She felt exhausted, having gone through such restless sleep from the previous night.

"Mom," Star finally asked, "did we really have to get up this early to go through this?"

"Yes, Star," Moon answered, glancing back at her, "We needed to address the Mewni people as soon as possible. The sooner we can calm the rabble, the better."

"Yeah, but..." Star began before trailing off in thought. She stopped walking, as did Moon, knowing something was obviously wrong with her daughter.

"I know you're upset, darling," Moon said with a sigh, "and I know you miss Earth...and that boy you were staying with, but right now, we need to focus on righting a wrong. This cause is bigger than him, and it's bigger than us."

"Yes...I know," Star choked out, "I just...wish he was here."

"You know you can get by without him," Moon responded, "You don't need another person in your life to help you take the actions you need. You're stronger than that."

"You're right, mom," Star replied, "It doesn't make last night any easier, though."

"I understand," Moon said, "But I need you to be that vigilant bubbly Star I know you are in this time of crisis. Do it for me. Do it for Mewni. And remember that you can do anything, no matter what. You just need to make them believe that."

And with that, the royal family finally reached the podium in front of the angry mob. Their shouts died down as Moon began to speak.

"My fellow Mewmans," she called out to the crowd, "We come before you with humiliy, understanding, and respect. We understand your upset at not knowing the truth behind Ludo's attack on our daughter during her visit to Earth."

There was a slight ringing in the royal family's ears, as well as the ears of the red-hooded figure in the crowd that Star thought looked all too familiar for her comfort. But the sound steadily increased and did not seem to be going away, for them or the red-hooded figure. They all chocked it up to stress. It's all they could do.

"You hid this danger from us!" a woman in the crowed yelled out.

"Yes, we withheld the truth," Moon yelled back, "But it was out of the intent that..."

"Do we even need a king and queen anymore?" another member of the crowed shouted, "I say that there are no kings! Only men! And we are to take back what is ours and run things without a ruler!"

The ringing increased in the ears of the four to the point where it began to drown out the rabble, but they all tried to push through it. Star got up from her chair and pushed her way in front of her mom.

"People of Mewni," Star shouted to the masses who seemed to calm down at the different voice, "I know you're upset. Believe me, I'm pretty upset about all of this, too. But as your oncoming queen, what I am promising is more power to you, the people. You want honesty and transparency? We'll give it to you! But we need to stay united, not divided. And..."

"Are we going to listen to a little girl who is completely reckless?" yet another voice shouted, "I say we revolt!"

And with that, the ringing in our four heroes ears became so loud that they felt the need to cover their ears, though it would not stifle it, as the ringing was coming from within their own heads. And before the red-hooded figure could say anything against the man attacking the Butterfly family, a massive portal as black as the void of space opened above their heads. The ringing in their ears went away.

Out of the Stygian abyss of a portal came a gargantuan monster, standing about roughly 10 feet tall upon landing on the stone streets. It looked like some black furred gorilla in body structure, but it had two extra arms protruding from where its elbows were, as well as two beady pink eyes. Then there was the mouth. I was a massive row of jagged, yellow teeth that extended vertically across the creature's head instead of horizontally, the way one would expect a normal mouth. It roared with a loud, ear-piercing shriek.

Marco remembered something Janna mentioned once in a conversation they had about her dreams. She said she had seen a creature like this once; these creatures were known in her dream as Gugs.

With that, Marco didn't waste any time in removing his red hood from his head and attacking the beast. Star could see perfectly well from the podium that this was indeed her friend to whom she confessed her love the night before. He leaped into the air and did a jump front kick straight to the creature's head, causing it to stagger and roar again. The Gug retaliated with a slam of its fist into the ground, which Marco dodged quickly. He then did a roundhouse kick to the exposed bend in its elbow before doing a jumping uppercut to its head once more.

Keeping the momentum, Marco did another leap into the air and performed a flying kick straight at the Gug's head. The monster then caught Marco's foot in its mouth and flung him through the air. It then grabbed him in one of its gigantic paws, a grip out of which he could no free himself. He continued to struggle until a humungous pink explosion hit the Gug in the side, causing it to drop him. Marco then looked up at the stage and saw that star had shot a magic missile at the creature, a dumbfounded yet happy look on her face, her want still smoking from the blast.

As Marco then continued his assault on the creature in the middle of the Mewni streets, the crowd attempting to give way as they ran for shelter from the beast in a panic, the royal family saw two more creatures emerge from the portal. The looked like the flying demons from Tom's Lucitorian kingdom, but their skin was onyx and oily. Moreover, they had a smooth, black surface where one might have otherwise expected a face on their heads.

"Oh, no," Moon uttered, "Night-gaunts..."

Star began to step over the edge of the podium, only for Moon to grab her by the wrist. She then looked back at her mother with one not of agitation but rather resolve, that this was something with which she could help the Earth boy and defend her people. Moon recognized this and let go of her daughter's arm, allowing Star to leap down into the streets and run the Marco's side. While he continued his fist fight with the giant, vertical-mouthed gorilla, she fired shot after shot from her wand at the night-gaunts but failing to hit them. Finally, one of the night-gaunts swooped lower and grabbed Star by the shoulders, hoisting her through the air at a rapid pace.

"Star! No!" Marco yelled as he staggered the Gug in time to see her flying over his head.

As the creature lifted her through the air, Star turned her wand over her shoulder and shouted "Narwhal Blast!" which then sent the effigy of a narwhal straight into the faceless monster's head, causing it to let go of Star. She tumbled to the ground and rolled to regain her footing, despite wearing a long dress. (She had of course fought in these things before, so it came natural to her)

She then aimed her want into the air in the direction of the night-gaunts and shouted "Mystic Room Suck Transform!" A black hole began forming in the middle of the air, sucking into it the two demonic creatures before disappearing into nothingness.

By that time, Marco had finished waylaying the Gug, sending it flat on its back. He was now back to back with Star, the two of them catching their breath. They then turned to look at each other.

"Are you okay?" Marco asked through his panting.

"Yeah," Star replied, still shaken and nervous, "Are you?"

Marco didn't answer but he did look out at the Mewni crowd who were now reappearing from their hiding places. He had a few things to say of his own.

"People of Mewni, hear me out," Marco said, "This is the threat you are facing. Without any warning, portals are appearing across your land, bringing with them these unholy abominations. They are a menace to your kingdoms, as well as to the monster clans outside within the forests and my own realm of Earth." He pointed to himself with his thumb as he said this. "To address your concerns, yes, the royal family probably should have been more forthcoming with you about this menace, but in their defense, they were trying to prevent you all from panicking, as you have probably seen over the past couple of days."

The Mewman people looked at each other, realizing their behavior was indeed based out of fear.

"The boy has a point," one of them muttered.

"But the time for omission and secrecy is over," Marco continued, and he held out his hand to Star, "Your new queen is promising you full honesty and transparency within your kingdom. She will be the one to unite us, along with monsters and earthlings, against the coming threat of whatever these new creatures are. I say we join in the cause and resist against this unknown threat from which this Toffee guy is surely at fault. Am I alone in this, or are we going to let Star guide us towards a better sense of unity?"

The Gug began to rouse from its unconscious state. Marco then ripped open a portal with his scissors and grabbed the creature by its neck.

"Volver de dónde viene!" he yelled at the monster as he tossed it into the portal before it closed.

The crowd didn't seem to know what to think at first, but then they began talking amongst themselves as to what to do. There was some arguing, but for the most part, it sounded civil enough.

"Isn't that the boy Princess Star is in love with?" one woman shouted.

"He's got the strength and intelligence of a real leader!" another man bellowed out.

Marco felt a heavy pat on his back. He looked over his shoulder to see a red-mustached, rather portly knight patting on the shoulder.

"I say we make this boy a captain and give him a squad," knight-commander Dugan said, slurring his words a bit and stumbling over himself after putting a mug on the ground of what looked like foaming cider.

"Marco," another woman shouted, "Since the princess loves you, are you going to be our new king?"

Marco didn't answer, but he did look at Star. She was looking at him with a face he could not read, despite having known her for as long as he had. What was it she was thinking?

Her face reflected her rapidly fading thoughts as followed: "MymarcoI'msogladyoucametoseemewithyourscissorsIreallyshouldhavethouthaboutthatbutyoushouldnothavefollowedmeIwastryingtoprotectyoubutnowthatyou'reherewedon'tneedtobeaparteveragainbutnowwhoisonapedestalnotJackieI'lltellyouthat..." Needless to say, it was one of confusion, joy, and agitation of spirit.

"Well, boy," the knight holding his shoulder replied, "aren't you going to answer them? Do you not want to spend your life with our beautiful princess and help her lead these people to the unity you described?"

He still didn't answer. He did, however, give Star the same smile he always had after each of their monster fights, and she in turn gave him the smile she had given him during their dance at the Blood Moon Ball.

He may not have known how to respond, given his standing with Jackie at the moment and the emerging of how Star had truly felt towards him. Another old phrase, however still rang through his head, as if in answer to the question so many were now asking him, if he would one day marry Star and help her rule Mewni, the paradoxical phrase of "Definite maybe."


	8. Moon's Concern

**Here it is! Really tried to work hard on this one to get it out for the weekend. This one, we did a better job of proofreading first, thankfully. It was going to be a lot longer, but I had to stop for the night. (I now have a scene where Janna, Tom, and Jackie help the suits catch that gremlin and another scene with Ludo and Toffee making a deal with...someone, and you could probably already guess who. Going to make those into separate chapters all their own) I'm also writing another story by request of someone else, involving a snow spell over Echo Creek; going to get that one out soon, too. Anyways, enjoy.**

"You're not the only one\With mixed emotions\You're not the only ship\Adrift on this ocean." – The Rolling Stones

"Okay, just a little alteration here," Marco said as he adjusted the thick straw training dummy's arms to match the mu ren zhuang he used at home for his martial arts practices. He moved aside and showed it to the rest of the knights to give them an idea of what is done. "Alright, just like I started the other knights, I know you haven't had hand to hand combat training like this, but if you lose your sword or your crossbow, this will certainly come in handy." Marco laughed at the pun; the knights in front of him did not laugh back. "Don't like puns, do you guys. Well, either way look over there at what I got your buddies doing and try to follow along with them."

To their right were another group of knights fighting against similar training dummies. They each delivered a rhythmic continual motion of crescent arm blocks, knife-hands, and jabs just as Marco had shown them, each of them shouting an equally measured set of shouts with each strike. The knights Marco stood in front of walked to their training dummies and attempted to do the same thing. Unfortunately, they were not as well coordinated, one of them tripping on his own ankle as he tried to move.

"You'll get it eventually," Marco sighed, "Just keep practicing."

The mid-day sun shown high over the castle training grounds, which was full of busy knights preparing for whatever this unknown threat to the kingdom was. They knew not when it would strike, only that it would be soon. After his display of prowess earlier in the day, Marco had gained favor with the royal generals who decided they wanted him as one of their own. They had then asked him to train them on this new form of close quarters combat with which none were familiar. Moon and River were well versed with it, having traveled across dimensions and experienced other cultures; they did not object to him teaching the knights what he knew, but Moon was hesitant to make him an official knight among them, as Marco was soon to find out.

Walking across the courtyard, however, was a girl who was both overjoyed and nervous to see him again. Star took a deep breath, knowing she would still feel awkward around the boy, but had to do this; he came for her across dimensions despite the risk, and she needed to confront him about it.

"Captain Marco," one of the knights addressed him (it was an informal title), "the Queen requests an audience with you and will be on her way in a half hour."

"Very good," Marco answered, "I will await her arrival." He then felt a tap on his shoulder. His head turned to see who it was only to find nothing. He turned around the other direction to come face to face with Star.

'HEEEEY, MARCO!" Star shouted with an enormous smile she was attempting to use to disguise her fear. But this was what felt natural to her, the way she had always greeted him each morning, bubbly and eager.

"Whoa, hey Star," Marco responded, understandably surprised.

"Umm, yeah," Star muttered, still trying to hold her smile, all while holding her hinds behind her and moving one foot in a circle on the ground, "Can we talk? I...I've got a few things..."

"Can I go first?" Marco asked with some deliberateness.

"Sure," Star replied, sounding more sheepish.

"You can't just run off like that," Marco began, as calmly as he could, trying not to show frustration, "at least not without giving us some explanation of why or what's happening. Everyone's worried about you: me, Janna, Starfan, Pony Head, and believe it or not, even Jackie. We're still your friends, and we still want the best for you. Please don't just leave us without at least some reason."

"Well, that's the thing of it, Marco," Star interrupted while holding her hands in the air, "I couldn't tell you all what was going on because I didn't want you to get involved. Plus, mom was kind of insistent that we left right the crap then! But all of it was because I thought without telling you what was really happening would make you worry less."

"And sometimes," Marco responded, "leaving out the details only makes us worry more. Don't tell someone about your illness, and they'll only assume the worst."

"You have a point," she replied, "But one thing: how did you know it was Toffee that had come back? You mentioned that in your speech earlier this morning."

"I didn't," he answered, "I just assumed that based on the fact that you found his finger in your wand and that you didn't ask me to come with you. Had Ludo been the threat, you would have asked me to come along."

"Well, you were 100 percent right," Star groaned, "And he's apparently much more powerful than he was when we first encountered him. He's got the other part of my wand embedded in his hand."

"Star," Marco said at last, "Whatever the threat may be, whether it's Toffee or another one of these dang dimensional rifts opening up and giving us another weird looking monster to fight..." He then reached out his hand and took hers, holding it gently before continuing. "...We'll face it together, through thick and thin. That's what best friends do."

"You're right, Marco," Star replied, her voice trailing off, "best friends do that...Listen Marco, about what I said last night..." She looked up into his eyes, "I was telling you the truth. I do have a crush on you, and...I think I always will..."

"I know, Star. I know." He gave her a comforting smile.

"Are things going to be awkward between us forever?"

"Not if you don't want them to be," Marco laughed, but it looked like he was holding back some other emotions he knew he couldn't express.

"Oh, Marco..." Star muttered before throwing her arms around him and bawling into his shoulder right in the middle of the knights, who had all stopped their training to watch the drama between the two young teens. Some felt anxious and sad, longing for this feeling of comfort and companionship, while others felt nostalgic about their lost youth and the summer romances they once had. Still, Star payed them no mind and continued to hold on to Marco like he could disappear or die at any time, not wanting to part from him.

Marco held her gently in his arms, feeling the well of emotion from her pouring from her eyes onto his shoulder. There was a part of him that didn't want to let go either. When they hugged, she was always so soft and comforting, much like her joyous personality. In this position, he couldn't help but smell her hair; there was a very heavy scent of lavender.

"I think I've known for awhile," Marco said, "ever since the night after the dance. And if Jackie weren't..." but he stopped himself right there and chose not to say anything further. He knew nothing good would come of it if he finished that sentence.

"What?" Star asked, moaning, "If Jackie weren't what?" She longed so badly to hear what he had to say further but also equally dreaded it.

It was then that Marco realized there was no turning back now. Yet, still, he hesitated.

He disengaged their hug so as to look her in the eye.

"Star, I'm..."

Just as the words exited his mouth, the knights immediately got back to their work and training. Marco looked over to see the king and queen had arrived on the grounds. Star and Marco detached from the hug completely.

"Mom! Dad!" Star squeaked, "I didn't expect you to come down here."

"Your majesties!" Marco bowed, his tone having an unexpected sense of formality in it, "i am honored that you have come to greet us. My queen, I understand you requested to see me?"

"I did indeed Marco..." Moon began, "In fact, I..."

"Marco, dear boy!" River interrupted, throwing his arms around Marco and squeezing him in a bear hug (it seemed like everyone wanted to hug Marco today), "I am thrilled you have decided to aid us in our struggle against Toffee's invasion!"

"You're...most...welcome..." Marco managed to gasp out before the king finally released him and allowed air to reenter Marco's lungs.

"Which is precisely what I wanted to address," Moon said, "Marco, if you would please follow me to the court. There are a few things we need to discuss."

"Yes, your highness," Marco replied and followed her from the training grounds back into the castle.

The room they were now in was the armory, stocked full of weapons along with its own kiln for reforging items that were broken. It gave off a heat that seemed to flood the room, as the synergy of the room did not give way for much insulation. Men and women were chatting and gearing up to train.

"Excuse us," Moon shouted, and each person within gave a salute and vacated. "Close the door behind you, please." Marco did as he was told and closed the door.

Moon turned around to face him and began looking him over, her eyes darting this way and that, sizing up his figure and posture, along with current mood, attitude, and level of fatigue based on these things.

There was another awkward pause before she began to speak.

"Before I begin," Moon explained, "I would like to at least convey to you my gratitude for a number of things. I thank you deeply for looking after Star throughout the year, for your efforts in keeping her grounded, and for your valor in containing the threat this morning. We very much appreciate it. However, I'm not sure you quite understand the magnitude of what you're dealing with here. Needless to say, you're in over your head with this. It would probably be wise of you to return to your home and let us handle the matter."

"With all due respect, your majesty," Marco replied, "isn't this the typical cliché?" Moon tilted her head to the side, as if expecting an elaboration. "The normal fish-out-of-water, Earth guy finding himself in the middle of some cosmic horror beyond his comfort zone. And you know, by the end of it he's either the hero or he at least survives long enough to help the main characters. I mean, this has been done a million times over, and I'm pretty sure I'll be okay by the end of all of this."

At this point, Moon gave a rather cross expression.

"This isn't some game or piece of fiction, boy," Moon snapped, "This could be the end of your life and, for that matter, all life across the multiverse. Toffee has always been a crafty, resourceful, and exceptionally powerful adversary, and if he now exists as some incorporeal spirit who has full access to Queen Eclipsa's magic, who knows what he's capable of at this point? The question I'm continually asking myself is what his motivation could be. Does he desire to reclaim the Mewni land or is he truly nihilistic enough to want to destroy the universe as a whole, which he could potentially do?"

"If that is true," Marco answered, "then there's only one real way to look at it. I came here to find out why my best friend, your daughter, had left us, but now I see that it's something much larger than I could imagine. If I'm some ant in some vast universe, and that universe is about to end, then I'm going to make my time worth something. This is bigger than me, than my desire to be the best friend I can to Star, and even bigger than my desire to make a good impression on you. Toffee could blow us all up tomorrow, but I'm not going to say I didn't at least do my part against this threat. Besides, if these rifts to other realities are from him, then I'm not even safe if I go home and do nothing. No, I will stand up and answer your call to arms, your majesty." Marco paused to catch his breath. "And at that, I'd like to request to become one of your knights."

"And that's a good answer," Moon replied, a smile appearing on her face at last, "But are you prepared to take on the responsibilities this entails?"

"Yes, ma'am. Whatever it takes."

"Then I have another question," Moon continued, "how do you see my daughter?"

"I'm sorry?" Marco asked, a bit surprised.

"We all heard Ruberiot's song," Moon elaborated, "And there was some truth to it apparently. But what is your perspective? Do you reciprocate this infatuation or puppy love, whatever you call it?"

Marco remained silent, not knowing how to respond. Moon sighed and spoke further.

"Look, I don't have a problem with it if you do, and obviously neither does the king," Moon explained, "In fact, I will say that we like you much better than that Lucitorian boy she brought home once. You've been nothing but kind, caring, and courteous towards her since day one. The reason I ask is because I don't want your emotions to become a liability. I can't have any of my soldiers being distracted, especially if it's because of the princess. Your focus should solely be on the tasks I give you and not on any romantic ties."

"I'm going to be completely honest, your majesty," Marco said with a sigh, "my feelings are a little mixed up right now, regarding that. I'm currently dating a girl name Jackie back on Earth, who is all sorts of wonderful. But Star recently confessed how she felt towards me, which has really made me question everything. I will say that I feel a lot more confident in myself around her, like I can be myself without worrying about not being cool enough, like we're fully equal with each other, albeit with a different approach to each situation we encounter together." He looked down for a moment and thought about what he just said. This was the balance he and Star had, the same balance he noticed in his parents as well. He would balance out her recklessness with caution and analysis, and that's what made things as great as they were. He was still unsure, as his situation was still complicated. Still he continued. "What I do know is what I've learned early on from her. I am not meant to be her 'hero' or someone who is meant to dote on her constantly and stifle her in any way. What I am is her friend, someone on whom she can depend and rely, someone who she can relate to and be there for her when she needs me."

Moon gave another smile, this one more of a half smile, one of both disappointment mixed with relief.

"I appreciate your honest answer," Moon responded, "And I've actually met this Jackie you mentioned; she is indeed a delightful girl, one of whom I can't help but think I share a kindred spirit with, but..." She decided to retract what she was about to say, as she wasn't sure Marco was ready to hear it. For a brief moment, a vision of the ocean and the terrors it possessed in its deepest depths flew through her mind, including the cyclopean city of R'lyeh. There was still that dreaded chanting: 'Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!' She turned around and thought for a moment before finding the best response. "You're both still young; there are going to be many changes, both in your life and in hers. Still, I appreciate how dedicated and steadfast you are to Star." Moon looked over her shoulder. "This is one of the traits that Hekapoo said she saw in you during your trials in her dimension; she actually spoke very highly of you before her recent incapacitation. And if your mind and situation changes, and you decide you would like to court Star, you need not ask my blessing, as you already have it."

Moon closed her eyes, not quite believing what she just said, as she desired her daughter follow the tradition of marrying within her class, to be with someone of royalty. But this boy was different; he had more than proved his worthiness to whatever she could offer him, Which made it hard for her to say what she was about to next as she opened her eyes and turned to face him.

"Unfortunately, though, my dear boy," she continued, "I cannot in good conscience make you a knight."

"What?"

"But if it's a title you seek" she said with another reassuring smile, "I will grant you one. It will be an unofficial title but one I feel that you deserve or at least will fully earn as long as you continue your endeavors here in Mewni."

"What did you have in mind, your majesty?" Marco asked.

"You'll find out as soon as I call everyone into the court," Moon laughed, and she then looked over Marco's shoulder towards the door, "And River and Star, you can stop your eavesdropping and make the announcement to the men and women outside!"

Marco looked behind him and saw both Star and River's heads dart back from the crack in the door, both of them making a startled yelp before shutting the door again and yelling to the crowd that there was an important meeting in the royal court. A wave of terror washed over him as he thought about what they might have heard in this private conversation.

So, it came to pass that within an hour, the royal family, along with Marco, many nobles, courtiers, and the entire Mewni-stationed knights crew were now within the courtroom. Marco stood on the stairs, in front of Moon, River, and Star at the top of them. Moon twirled a large broadsword before halting it high above her head.

"Kneel before us, Marco," she commanded, and he did as he was told, "Hear ye, my court! I shall now present this man from Earth with one of the highest of Mewni titles. In fact, he will now be ushered in to a new chapter of royalty."

Everyone in the room, including Star, gasped.

"Wait, what?" Marco asked, but he got no response. Moon then proceeded to tap both of his shoulders with the flat end of the sword.

"I dub you Prince Marco Diaz of the Empty Hand!" she shouted to the crowd.

"Empty hand?" Marco asked.

"Isn't that what your phrase 'karate' means?" Moon asked rhetorically, leaning down for him to hear her.

The crowd cheered at the queen's new decree, although they were still in shock at what just happened. But then again, none of them understood how Earth royalty would work, so they didn't question it too hard. To them, this was a new alliance across dimensions, and Marco and Star would be leading the way for it.

"Happy now?" Moon asked, still leaning in, to which Marco nodded and stood at Moon's hand gestures signaling him to do so, "First, though, while this red hoodie may be your signature of your character, I think, for today, you should wear the attire of a proper prince. Star, do you have any objections to finding that vest with the shoulder tassels?"

"None at all, mom!" Star shouted over the roar of applause, a huge ecstatic grin across her face at the thought of seeing Marco dressed up again. Marco groaned internally at the thought of the shoulder tassels again, as they seemed to annoy him greatly, but he wasn't about to argue with them about it.


	9. The Hum from the Sky

**Another chapter, done! I really had to think hard about this one, trying to decide on what sort of paranormal thing to put into this. And I'm continuing the Jamtom here. He, he! Anyways, enjoy. Next chapter will have Toffee and Ludo.**

"As always in science, 'unexplained' does not mean 'unexplainable'...It's possible that the Taos Hum is real, and its true origins remain unknown, and it's also possible that the hum only exists in the minds and ears of those who report it." – Benjamin Radford

As Jackie left her home, the smell of the sage she had burned still lingering in her nostrils and giving her the pleasant vibes it generally did, she began fastening her helmet before finally mounting her skateboard and rolling down the sidewalk towards the Diaz residence. She wanted to say hello and check on them after Marco had left before heading to whichever park it was she would be skating in today. Maybe she would go to the one with the hill she could bomb before practicing the bigflip she just knew she could do from it.

She skated every day; it was her true passion and gave her an exhilaration those who resorted to walking would never understand. She only left her board when it was needed, and there were very few times she actually had any desire to leave it. One was if she ever fell in love, and the other was if she fell dead. Today, however, she was trying to put out of her mind the thought of Marco and Star not coming back to Earth. That he'd forget all about her and just become her prince right there.

She had texted Marco this morning about where he was and if he had found Star and of course did not receive a response until after her morning routine when he said that he had inadvertently spent the night sleeping in Star's dirty laundry. Did the boy really waste any time in moving on? Really? She sent him another message pressing for details and got a reply that he had found Star, faced yet another weird monster attack, and was now training knights in Karate. She thought about this last text before doing a leap across a drain at the edge of the sidewalk and then curving up to the next sidewalk from the ramp and imagined what Marco would look like as a knight.

Her skateboard continued down the sidewalk, the bright morning sun streaming through the trees, when all of a sudden, Jackie thought she heard a faint hum in the air, though she couldn't tell from where it came. It had a low droning quality to it, like some distant fog horn but with a lot more bass, as if it were echoing through a tunnel.

The sound continued on and on for another minute before going silent at last.

Jackie stopped for a moment to wonder what that was before shrugging it off and continuing down the sidewalk.

About five minutes during her trek to the house, she found Janna and Tom squatted behind a bush on a nearby street corner. She looked over, and with them was one of the weird jump-suited figures, who was also squatted with them. They all seemed to be looking across at the neighboring lawn.

"Uhhh, hey dudes," was all she could think to say.

"Shhhh!" the three of them shushed her in unison. The jump-suited figure was actually Selene who noticed that she had been shushing the Thomas girl (who she had called "Aunt Jackie" during her childhood...and may as well eventually call "Mom") and immediately turned her head back to the bushes, hoping she would just go away, lest she cause a major paradox burn in learning her identity.

"Okay," Jackie said softly, kneeling down with them, "But what are you guys doing?"

"Duck behind here," Janna instructed her eagerly, "We're trying to catch these annoying time-space gremlins."

"Stupid thing bit my hand and ran off last night," Tom said, "I could have roasted him alive, but Mrs. Robot over here won't let me."

"Keep your temper in check," Selene retorted through the robot voice filter, "We really need to focus here. Just pet that rabbit of yours as needed."

"Hey," Jackie began to ask, realizing something, "Are you the one who knew Marco's name from a few months ago?"

"I...am..." Selene answered with some hesitation.

"How did you…?" Jackie began another question.

"We'll focus on that later," Janna spoke in a hush while giving Selene a nod, suggesting she understood, "Right now, I think we could use your help in catching these guys."

"And where's that Sol guy?" Tom asked.

"I'm going to be honest here," Janna followed up, "Your brother seems a little absent minded."

"He's up in the tree near one of the power lines across the street," Selene answered, "I let him go up there as long as he would stay focused." She pressed the side of her new helmet and spoke again. "You're paying attention up there, right Sol?"

"Sure am, sis," Sol said, hanging from the top of a tree branch while crawling towards a squirrel at the end of it, "Now, come, squirrel. I must learn your ways of climbing." The squirrel noticed him and, looking up from the acorn it was eating, chattered at him before running off. "Ah, crap. I'll get you yet, my furry friend."

The group on the ground noticed an old man across the street exiting his house to look around until he found the large air conditioner on the side of it. The dang thing had stopped working, and he kicked it to see if it would turn on like all the other times he had since he lived here. It did not. He grumbled and called the Echo Creek power company to see if they would help with it, although had he been thinking he probably should have called the manufacturer first. Of course, neither would have helped, as it was indeed an external force that caused the problem.

Across the street parallel to them, their friend from school, Hope, walked out talking on her cell phone. She was saying something about how they had lost cable service in their house and wanted to know if there was anything her cable company could do. She thanked them for checking the connection in their area while walking back into the house.

"I think it's safe to say the gremlins are still close by," Janna said, "So what's the plan?"

"Okay," Selene began, "Sol's got that corner covered...supposedly. I'm going to stay at this end of the street. Janna, Tom, you two head down to the end of the block. And remember, no killing it."

"I'll keep the fire to a minimum," Tom replied.

"I thiiiink I have this thing set on stun," Janna said, holding up the Yithian lightning gun, "I haven't fully translated the runes on the buttons yet."

Though they wouldn't say it, the two were happy to be paired with each other.

"Aunt J...I mean Miss Thoma…I mean blonde girl who I'm not supposed to know yet!" Selene muttered in frustration and shook her head. Was she always going make that mistake? Jackie just looked at her with some confusion but then smiled.

"Dude, I think I get it," Jackie reassured her, waving her hand in a calming manner, "Wherever you're from, you know some other version of me or something. I've seen enough sci-fi weirdness as of late to know there's something up with you guys."

"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that," Selene replied, "But anyways, keep heading down the street and stay just a little past the old man's house. Just act casual, skate in a circle or something."

"Rad idea, man," Jackie then hopped back on her skateboard and headed down the street.

And that's when the gremlins began to give away their position.

Directly across from Sol's branch was one of the red aardvark-like creatures on the neighboring power line, chewing on one of the transformers. It wouldn't be too much longer before the whole block lost power, and Sol knew he couldn't let that happen. He reached for the bangle on his wrist, and on the underside of it, tapped the glowing blue sphere that kept all of his equipment within its compressed dimensional space.

Oh boy! Flashback time, dear readers.

Sol had gotten this item during one of his visits to earth. He was speaking with a well renowned scientist about some sort of invention that might let him hold more equipment on his many travels while hunting animals across each dimension. The man's name escaped him, however, and he was struggling to remember it now. Was it Rick? It was something like that.

"You can keep your stuff in this," the man had said before belching mid sentence, "I use the same type of technology to power my car. I think all households might eventually have these if I can mass produce them." After Sol received his new wrist storage device, he gave the old scientist a bag of mint condition gold coins. "Score! High quality aged whiskey, here I come! Wubba lubba dub dub!"

And in his present situation, Sol was preparing to extract the snare net he kept in there. After pressing the sphere, the elastic rope attached to a net appeared in his hand with a blue spark.

"I gotcha, you little freak," he said, stood up on the branch while trying to keep his balance, and tossed the net towards the gremlin while holding onto the elastic net, hoping to catch it and pull it back to him. The creature let out a squeak, leapt off the transformer and over the net before landing on Sol's helmet. It began clawing at him with a collection of furious swipes, causing Sol to lose his balance and fall off the tree limb, with him screaming all the way down before falling face first onto the asphalt. The gremlin then ran down the street conveniently in Jackie's direction.

At the same time, the other gremlin peaked its snout from behind the old man's air conditioner. Selene had it in her sights and aimed with wand it its direction, hopefully casting a successful holding spell. The creature, however, darted away to Selene's right, down the street where Tom and Janna were waiting for it.

Tom had a small bolt of fire hovering from his fingertips. As instructed, he was just hoping to stun the thing.

Janna had her gun ready, the weapon she had read about in her occult books, and hoped she had selected the right settings just to give the creature a minor shock.

"I got it!" both Janna and Tom yelled in unison as the small monster ran in their direction. They ran towards each other and, as the thing leapt over both of their heads, fired their respective weapons. They both successfully hit it, causing it to screech before it landed into a neighboring lawn, twitching from the electricity, but what they failed to do was watch where they were going and ended up colliding with one another. Tom fell on top of Janna, which inadvertently made their lips connect as well. Both surprised, they stayed that way for a few seconds before Tom pushed up slightly from the road.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, uncharacteristically embarrassed. (Of course, he was doing a lot of uncharacteristic things around her; he'd never felt this way)

"Are you kidding?" Janna asked, "I'd been waiting for you to do that for awhile." She then pulled him back down and kissed him again, much more passionately this time. The two stood to their feet, Tom pulling Janna up by the hand. "We'll get to do that more often if you like."

Selene ran over to the scene.

"Did you get him?" she asked. The group ran over to the grassy lawn where the creature had landed. The thing was still alive, its eyes still blinking and examining the world around it, but it couldn't move. Its body was still smoking from both of the blasts.

"I said no maiming," Selene scolded them.

"Oh, come on," Janna retorted, "He's fine, just stunned."

"Yeah," Tom followed, "Besides, there doesn't seem to be any paradox weirdness, right?"

Just then, Janna, Selene, and Tom heard some sort of weird hum in the distance that seemed to come from every direction in the sky. It was gone almost as soon as they heard it.

Across town, two summer school students were helping to train the new school mascot, Awesome Possum the Second. He was a possum the school had rescued from the animal control center a month ago, and they thought since the original possum died earlier last year, it would be great to see him do tricks on the football field again. Of course, right as they were trying to get him to stand on his hind legs (which he was reluctant to do and kept hissing as they tried to coax him into doing so), he suddenly shape-shifted into a large pelican. Accepting his new avian existence, he then flew from Echo Creek in the direction of Venice Beach, as he felt the need to consume a large number of fish.

Meanwhile, the other gremlin was heading straight for Jackie, but she was ready for it, holding her skateboard at attention. It immediately lunged for her, but she held the skateboard up and caught the creatures claws around it. She then pushed forward, falling to the ground and pinning the creature underneath the board. It let out several screeches while trying to chew on the board, but fortunately, it was not able to chew through the board itself.

Its teeth could grind steel but for some reason, it couldn't eat through the board.

Jackie's uncle did say he was trying to improve the quality of the boards he made.

"Great job, Jackie!" Sol said from behind her, "Now for the net." He then let down the snare, and the net formed around the creature, which he then brought up to himself to examine. Jackie looked up at him to see that he had lost the headpiece (of which the creature had shredded) and was now revealing his face.

He was a blonde haired, blue eyed man who looked to be in his early twenties. There was the design of a sun on either side of his cheeks, book ending an equally blonde circle beard and wide smile.

Jackie thought he looked remarkably like either Star or King Butterfly.

"So you guys are human after all," Jackie said at last.

"Mewman," Sol responded, "but close enough."

Selene, Janna, and Tom were coming up the other side of the sidewalk; floating with them was the other gremlin in a pink bubble that hovered where Selene held her wand. When she saw Sol had had lost his helmet, she cocked her head to the side and gestured her arms in a frustrated manner, as if to say, "Really?"

"The thing scratched my helmet up, and I fell out of a tree," he told her, "What do you want from me? You had the same problem last night."

"Anyways," Selene diverted, "Thank you all for your help in catching these little guys. I don't think they're going to be bothering your version of reality anytime soon again. But now it's time for us to go."

"What?!" Janna exclaimed, "You're leaving just like that? I've got so many questions right now? First of all, what just happened, and why are these gremlins so important? Second, do you guys know where Star is?"

"I've got a few questions, too," Jackie said, "How do you guys know us? And why am I your aunt?"

"And I really shouldn't answer them here," Selene responded.

"It really is for the best we don't let the cat out of the bag," Sol followed.

"It's going to cause more problems for your reality if we reveal any more information," Selene continued, "One of the whole reasons we wore these stupid suits in the first place. You can't even tell our genders from these things. I really do wish you all the best. And don't worry, you will see us again, though it may not be...like this." She was waving the wand around as she explained all this, causing the singed gremlin to flop around inside the bubble.

As Selene and Sol began stepping through the portal, there came a that weird discordant hum again, this time sounding off at an even louder volume. It was this loud low droning noise, as though someone were playing a horn but distorting the amplifier to only play through the bass. It reminded them of the hum from a passing car that was playing a loud R&B or rap tune from its speakers, only it held on the same note for what seemed like forever.

It became so loud that each of them had to cover their ears. Worse than that, however, was the feeling of dread, the feeling that for some reason, they were not supposed to be there. It was the same feeling one might get for having stepped into a restricted military base or having looked at the test answers on an upcoming pop quiz before the teacher came back to the room.

For some reason, Janna thought of one of her favorite classic tales, Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," where the main character watched this bladed pendulum gradually swing closer and closer to him. She had the same feeling something just as deadly was coming for them.

At length, the dreaded sound ceased. Some of the other neighbors had heard it as well, as they were stepping outside their front doors to see where they had heard the sound.

"On second though," Selene said, "you can come follow us. Something...is telling me you're not safe here." And with that, the five of them stepped through the portal.

They all then found themselves on the Plains of Time. While this was clearly routine for Selene and Sol, it was certainly amazing to Janna, Tom, and Jackie.

"Whoa, this place is far out, dude," Jackie said.

"Oh, Omni!" Selene called out, "We brought the gremlins you wanted us to capture!" Omnitraxus Prime did not respond. They looked around for him, but there was no trace of him appearing. Father Time, however, was off in the distance, still driving the Wheel of Progress by gigantic space hamsters and laughing as he did this.

"This isn't good," Sol stated the obvious.

"No, no, no," Selene said, taking off her helmet, more concerned with the fact that Omnitraxus Prime was missing than revealing her identity. She didn't waste time and immediately starting calling the other High Commission members, none of whom answered her phone. "Why aren't you picking up?" She grabbed her air in frustration.

Jackie noticed Selene's appearance, from the dark hair, to the mole, to the moon emblem on her cheeks. She walked up to her and stood with her at eye level.

"Okay," Jackie said, "Now I really have some questions for you."


	10. The Greater of Two Evils

**Yay, done! Sorry it took so long. Working family man and all that jazz. Anyways, I wanted to focus on the villains in this one, as we've seen so much of what our heroes are going through, we aren't getting a behind the scenes of what is causing the conflict. In fact, let's take a moment to talk about Disney villains, shall we? A lot of the great Disney villains have seem to have gone by the wayside. The last really good one I saw was the Shadow Man from "Princess and the Frog." As of late, however, all of them have been the bait and switch good-guy-who-turns-bad, in which case they start out likable or at least relatively trustworthy and then turn into villains (Toy Story 3, Wreck It Ralph, Frozen, etc.). Doug Walker put it best in that it's like we have to get to know a whole new character that we now have to get used to through the rest of the film. Thankfully, in the case of both "Gravity Falls" and "Star Vs. the Forces of Evil," the villains stay consistent in their pursuits and are delightfully menacing. That's my two cents on the matter. Now, on with the chapter. Hope you like.**

"[T]hat last amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the centre of all infinity—the boundless daemon-sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin, monotonous whine of accursed flutes; to which detestable pounding and piping dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic ultimate gods, the blind, voiceless, tenebrous, mindless Other Gods whose soul and messenger is the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"

Ludo's dreams were, for the most part, very pleasant. His first dream was that he was the pilot of a rogue starship with a motley crew of smugglers, a Firefly-class vessel named Serenity. The last thing he could recall from it was crash landing the ship, his wife and his captain in the cockpit with him before a large spike flew through the glass and impaled him. His second dream was that he was a member of the Justice League, along with the great heroes of the world: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. He didn't have any powers of his own, but he carried a bow and arrow, all while wearing a green hood and black paint over his eyes. For some reason, Superman had turned evil and ruled the world with an iron fist, and it was up to him and Batman to put a stop to his tyranny.

These dreams, however, ended as he then found himself in what looked like an empty space at first. He attempted to move, but found he could only flail his limbs this way and that, as though he were deep under water. He tried screaming out, but it only echoed through the empty void. He looked up once again and found that there was what looked like a large projector screen in front of him. For a moment, he didn't recognize what he was seeing at first until he saw the tip of his beak and realized he was looking out from his own eyes. It was as though his body's vision were being displayed on some large television, and he was simply watching someone else take control of it as a non-participating audience member.

Out of his "eyes," he could see what looked like an enourmous rat with a prehensile tale and tentacles where it's mouth would normally be swing from a lush green tree in front of him and begin making a hissing sound at him. He could see what sort of looked like his arm, only missing one of its fingers, raising up in front of him, only to see it shoot a bolt of green energy from its palm that looked to be draining energy from the creature before it fell out of the branch.

"What is going on?" Ludo finally asked.

"I'm glad you asked," he heard Toffee's booming voice echo through the darkness.

"Toffee?" Ludo asked.

"That's my name," Toffee answered, "Don't wear it out." He laughed, forcing Ludo to cover his "ears," if that's really what they were in this place. "I guess I may as well explain. See, I'm out of the wand and am now in the proverbial driver's seat that is your body."

"So that was your goal the whole time?" Ludo asked, perplexed, "Blow up Star's wand and my castle just so you could possess the new wand and then possess me? I mean, I know my body is irresistible, but that's seems kind of convoluted."

"Ha, no, little man," Toffee replied, "My plans are much larger than that. This is just how they ended up playing out. In fact, by the end of it all, you'll most likely be thanking me. I will say, I even admire your endeavors; while you're acting on base impulse without much thought, you're still acting in your own self interest, which is the very thing all sentient lifeforms must naturally do. So few individuals see the virtue in selfishness."

"Well, thanks, I guess..." Ludo responded.

"I hope you understand none of our past disagreements were personal," Toffee continued, "This is all just a matter of business. No hard feelings, please. They would only cloud your sense of reason."

"What choice do I have now?" Ludo asked.

"I guess not much of one now," Toffee answered, "All I can ask is that you trust me in this undertaking and know that it is just as much in your interest as it is mine."

"And what IS in it for me?" Ludo continued his questions.

"Ha, I'm proud of you for being so bold in asking," Toffee continued, "I've seen your desires, however short sighted and shallow they are. You desire strength, wealth, women, all the things an emperor would possess. And I will grant them to you once I have what I want. Fear not; we will succeed in toppling the Mewmi kingdom together. Your efforts of allowing me a corporeal body will not go unrewarded, so long as you remain obedient."

Toffee, controlling Ludo's body, made his way through another set of trees until he came to a bright green clearing, dipping down into a grassy valley. There, he found that for which he was searching.

Beyond the ravine, Toffee could see the ruins of the once great city of Kadath. He took a moment to admire the view of the large golden spires, the marble archways, the bridges between the auriferous, gargantuan, cyclopian buildings, all of which were covered in the verdant moss of past century. Its ancient streets were lined with overgrown urns and the stone statues of countless pharaohs and sultans who had once ruled the kingdom through the eons, long before it was abandoned and left at the mercy of the Outer Gods, who swirl and writhe through the cosmos beyond the veil of all other realities. For a moment, he wondered in what aged cycle this city could have thrived, but it was not related to the business at hand. He was there to ask the new, esoteric ruler of the city for his aid.

"To think," Toffee mused, "less than a century ago, this whole plane was covered in ice and snow. It's amazing how much the flora has thrived here."

"Just curious, but what are we doing here?" Ludo asked.

"I'm just here to make a deal with the city's ruler," he replied, "It's been awhile since he and I have spoken, and he's recently gone through a horrible defeat during the last time he tried to expand his territory."

Toffee then descended down to the grassy valley and through the arched city gates. He proceeded through the empty golden streets, searching for the temple where the city's ruler now resided. In his search the only life he found crouched behind one of the marble statues was a small black cat. The tiny feline emerged slowly and, upon seeing the Toffee-Ludo hybrid, arched its back and began hissing. Toffee raised his hand to drain the creature's life-force but hesitated and began thinking of the nearby kingdom of Ulthar and the possibility of a dimensional portal or at the very least a traveling caravan from that region.

The thought of their most sacred law, that no one may harm a cat, filled his mind and made him slowly withdraw his jewel-embedded hand. This law was one of ethereal significance, one that the universe and the Powers that held it together would bring swift justice to those who would violate it.

And Toffee, no matter powerful he had become, would never be able to withstand the ramifications of harming a cat of Ulthar.

The cat hissed at him one last time before making a low growl and slinking away out of sight as fast as it could.

"I don't mean to pry further," Ludo began, "But now I'm curious…WHERE IN CORN'S NAME ARE WE?"

"These are the Dreamlands," Toffee informed him, "It is a plane that exists more in the abstract than in some concrete planetary grounding. Under normal circumstances, one could only access it from their most vivid of dreams, and even then, they required a strong, intelligent mind and will to access it. Right now, we are in the forbidden city of unknown Kadath; oh, long have I awaited to venture here." Toffee chuckled to himself for a moment, just feeling so immersed in his proverbial dream becoming a reality to him at last. "And thanks to your unlocking of Great Queen Eclipsa's archaic magic, we no longer need to sleep to enter this dimension. The more I think on it, the more I'm realizing just how useful you've been."

"Umm, thanks again?" Ludo murmured.

"The last person to make it this far," Toffee projected his thoughts into words, "was an Earth man from the 1920's named Randolph…Rudolph…Randy? Anyways, it matters not. Let's continue."

Toffee proceeded through the city, floating above the wide streets that multitudes of inhabitants had once traversed thousands upon thousands of years ago. At length, he again found the building for which he was searching, the massive temple of Kadath. Its pyramid structure dwarfed the rest of the surrounding structures, its sides gleaming with golden walls and colossal platinum engravings of those god-pharaohs to whom the city's inhabitants had once partitioned with great wailings, cries, and sacrifices.

Ludo looked through the dark aperture of the temple and thought for a moment that he saw strange shapes floating through there, like long ropey black tentacles twirling hungrily for anything that would dare get near them.

Was it only his imagination?

Toffee floated through the shadowy entrance of the temple. This led him through a series of stone tunnels before finally ending in a seemingly endless flight of stairs upwards. He zoomed up the flight of stairs at lightning speed, making Ludo jostle inside his head, causing him (Ludo) to almost become nauseated. At length, he found himself in what was the grand gallery of the pyramid, the dim yellow light of the torches along the walls lending the only illumination to the enormous structure. Along the walls were varying symbols Ludo did not recognize but Toffee could; they were the writings of an old Earth writing from a land called Egypt, in which used symbols instead of normal characters to portray the expression of writing.

While it looked as if the writing sprawled endlessly into a chaotic nonsense, there was one phrase furiously painted on the wall in red ink. the hieroglyphs, as Toffee knew them, translated into the phrase "Fire walk with me." He wondered if they were referring to Ra, but it was none of his business.

What namely disturbed Ludo was that beside the walls were various humanoid figures who limped and shambled along the sides of the walls, all of whom were covered and hidden in white bandages. They seemed to not notice Toffee's presence, but their manner bothered Ludo just the same. They all smelled of a combination of honey, cinnamon, and henna flowers, all while having that lingering putrid stench of death about them.

Eventually, these mummies parked themselves at various places along the grand gallery and began humming a low resonance from their undead throats. It was some sort of hymn or requiem in a language more ancient and primordial than either Ludo or Toffee could understand, its sounds resonating off the walls of the gallery that echoed far and wide in a way that chilled the Ludo-Toffee hybrid to their bones. Yes, even the evils of the Mewman world could feel the oldest and most primordial emotion within this place.

Toffee proceeded to float past the mummies and on through the gallery. Finally, he came to his final destination: the pharaoh's chamber. He half expected a large sarcophagus in the center of the chamber but instead found something much more to his liking, the throne room of the ruler of this land.

Sitting at said throne was none other than Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. he was dressed as a traditional pharaoh, all decked in black and gold. to his left and right, mummies were fanning him in exhalation. Another mummy brought out a pitcher and glass, pouring wine from the pitcher into the glass and handing it to him.

"Ah, if it isn't my old friend, Toffee, come to pay a visit," the pharaoh said, stepping down from his throne while sipping the wine to greet him, small dark blue scarabs running from all directions as he descended the stairs to face Toffee's vessel that was Ludo's floating body.

"Indeed it has, old mentor," Toffee replied, "I've heard you have fallen on some hard times. Before, you were a tremendous chaos god who tormented humans and other lifeforms constantly with your deceit and false deals. But now, after your defeat by those twin human children, you're now reduced to a minor demon. How the mighty have fallen."

"Eh, don't rub it in, lizard boy," Nyarlathotep retorted, "I've already recited the ancient rite of regeneration. It'll only be a matter of time before I have my fun again on Earth. Not even that Axolotl will stop me now."

"Don't worry, my friend," Toffee said with a laugh, "I have faith in your ability. Which is one the reasons I'm here. You see, I was wondering if I could at long last make my deal with you."

"A deal?" the Pharaoh asked, amused, "Oh, you know how to interest me."

"I was curious, though," Toffee contemplated, "are you still able to shape change?"

"Oh, you know I can," Nyarlathotep answered, "That's still one of my oldest and easiest tricks." With that, the pharaoh transformed into a different humanoid, one clad in a denim jacket, jeans, and long, scraggly hair. at this point, his voice and accent also changed. "See, I can still do it. Randall Flagg, at your service."

"Ha, so you can," Toffee laughed, "But in all seriousness, I liked your most recent form the best, the one you used in Oregon of the United States on Earth. Can you use that again?"

Randall Flagg said nothing else but rather heeded Toffee's challenge. He then transformed into a yellow triangular-shaped entity with one eye, black line-like arms and legs, and a black top hat on the tip of his pyramid-like head.

"So, you like Bill Cypher the best, eh?" Bill asked rhetorically, hovering a few feet above Toffee's vessel, "I don't blame you. I'm pretty attached to this form myself. Seemed to scare and confuse quite a few people back in the early 1980's on up."

"I guess time really is relative," Toffee responded, "But yes, anyways, to my point, I was wondering if you and I could make a deal."

"Ha, a deal," Bill laughed, "You do understand the implication of making a deal with me, right?"

"You know that I do," Toffee answered, "I've been your disciple for decades, as you may recall. What I desire is to take back that which is rightfully mine, the throne of Mewni. And you would get your revenge against the Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Llama, Ice Pack, the Six Fingered Man, all those characters you spoke of in my last dream with you. So, what do you say?" Toffee held out his jewel-embedded hand to Bill, fully willing to make the deal with him.

Ludo, looking through the "projector screen" of his mind's eyes, did not see the dark pharaoh, the creepy denim-clad man, or the yellow triangular entity but rather something else altogether much more horrifying. The creature he saw standing before Toffee was almost indescribable in its immensity, it was some colossal abomination that stood ominously all the way to the high ceiling of the chamber, with two arms that terminated into large three pronged claws, three massive spider-like legs, but instead of a head was a gargantuan red tentacle that twisted and twitched like some living redwood tree limb. He wondered how the creature communicated if it didn't have a mouth, at least not one that Ludo could discern from the creature's bodily composition. More importantly, however, he wondered why in all the planes Toffee would want to make a deal with this horrid thing.

"Well," Bill finally said just the same, "I was going to wait 'til my final corporeal regeneration kicked in, but why wait? Let's go back to the waking dimensions, shall we, old friend? I think this will be a good deal. Revenge for both of us." With that, Bill extended his hand as well and shook Toffee's.

Had Bill known what would have happened next, he never would have made the deal. Upon their palms colliding, Bill suddenly began to feel weaker, almost tired before he realized everything within him was becoming numb. I realized what was happening and wanted to scream out something to the effect of "No, you can't do this! I'm the one who makes the tricks and the twists in the contracts!" but of course he never had the opportunity before his single eye went black and his body falling to the ground, its impact causing the temple to shake and reverberate for a full minute.

Only Ludo understood the real reason for the shockwave, and his sanity slipped further and further the more he stared at Bill's true form.

"Yes," Toffee chuckled, "a good deal indeed." He turned to leave the temple, and behind him the mummies began shambling behind him, like a herd of white sheep following their new shepherd.

Ludo shook his head and snapped out of his stupor.

"What have you done?" he asked.

"Took what I needed," Toffee answered, "which is the very secret to my success; through cunning and deception, I can acquire just about any necessity. That's the way the multiverse works, survival of the fittest and most ruthless, and all of it spurred by instinctual and willful self-interest. Any form of true selflessness or altruism is a sign of weakness. You will do best to remember this lesson."

"Another curious question," Ludo continued, "Why didn't you just drain him right when you entered the room? Wouldn't that have been a lot faster?"

"I needed him off guard," Toffee answered, "He would have been too powerful to drain head on and would have vaporized me in an instant. Plus, I just wanted to see that silly triangular form he had been taking again; it amused me." The two eventually found themselves outside again, still under the bright sun of the Dreamlands, the army of the bandaged undead behind them. "Now, no more questions. There's work to be done, including finding my finger." Toffee then raised his hand and generated a portal. "Pretty soon, I'll make those Hekapoo-branded scissors obsolete. In fact, I think I could render the existing ones nearly useless if I tried."

Before Toffee and his new mummy army stepped through the portal to wherever he would take them next, Ludo began to think on a few things. All he wanted was money, power, fame, and love of multiple gorgeous women. Was this really the path to take to get all of that? Had he been willing to form an alliance with the Butterfly family to begin with and perhaps reunite them with the Mewmans despite the old prejudices, would he already have all of that? Queen Moon had reached out to him, and all he did was get defensive. Was everything going to be alright? Would he be alright by the end of this? Would Toffee give him control of his body again?

He was afraid to ask questions, as he had no idea of the repercussions he would face. He would wait and see what he could do as time went on and he saw more of what Toffee was planning. All he could do now was watch the screen as Toffee stepped through the portal.


	11. Lotuses and Lloigors

**Here it is! All done! Took me two weeks, but the outline turned out to be a longer chapter than I thought. Hope you all enjoy. I do question whether continuing this is worth it, but seeing how many have commented and liked this ongoing story so far, that boosts my spirits. As long as you all keep reading this, I'll keep writing it. Anyways enjoy!**

"Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,\Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave\To each, but whoso did receive of them,\And taste, to him the gushing of the wave\Far far away did seem to mourn and rave\On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,\His voice was thin, as voices from the grave;\And deep-asleep he seem'd, yet all awake,\And music in his ears his beating heart did make." — Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Fate\Up against your will\Through the thick and thin\He will wait until\You give yourself to him" — Echo and the Bunnymen

The guest suite in the castle was absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the rug to the bedsheets was a wonderful shade of red, which of course fully appealed to Marco's aesthetic taste, all with golden swirling patterns that would have otherwise confused the eye if one were to focus on it for too long. The room was namely used for housing ruling guests from other nations, so it was fitting that the Butterflies would offer him to stay here.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," Marco said, "But shouldn't I head home? My parents are going to be worried about me."

"I took the liberty of informing them," Moon answered, "that we needed your aid in a royal investigation. They were perfectly okay with it and, in fact, were more than enthusiastic to hear that you and Star were working together again."

Star, who was standing next to her mother, smiled at this revelation.

"And actually," Moon continued, "They requested to spend a week's vacation here as well. We're housing them in one of the lower levels." She could see the look of concern on his face. "Fret not. We've prepared a nice, safe, and educational tour for them for the next few days."

"Well, as long as they stay out of harm's way," Marco said.

"But that was sweet of you, mom," Star chirped pleasantly.

"Well, I suggest you both get your rest," Moon recommended, "We have an early rise tomorrow in heading out to those ruins."

"Thanks, mom," Star replied. And with that, Moon took her leave down the hall. Star exited the room as well, and Marco followed her to the doorway, at which she turned to face him. "Well, I guess this is goodnight." There was still a nervousness in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess," Marco answered, equally nervous, "Hey, something's been bugging me. What happened to that Ruberiot guy?"

"Oh you know," Star began in that sing-songy voice of hers, "they labeled him a traitor for divulging royal secrets to the public…as ya do. But then they left it up to me to decide what to do with him. Since he was really only following what I was asking him to do, I gave him a satchel of gold and a warnicorn and told him to get outta dodge."

"Well, that's good that he's at least okay," Marco said, relieved.

"Did I tell you I'm digging the new cape?" Star asked with that low, amazed sound in her voice.

"I kinda had a feeling you did," Marco replied, grabbing the edge of it to examine it again, "I guess it is pretty cool."

"So where do we go from here, you and I?" Star continued her inquiry.

"We're still friends," he answered her, "and we always will be, no matter where we are or what happens to us."

"What was it you were about to say earlier, about Jackie?"

"I was about to say something I really shouldn't," Marco said with a sigh, "And I think you know what it was."

"I…I get it," Star yelped but still trying to hold a smile, "And I'm not going to force you. Just…all I ask is that you please don't tease me or lead me on, okay?"

"I promise that I don't plan on it."

"Okay," Star said, "Well, good night, bestie!" She leaned in, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ran down the hall.

When she finally reached her room, she fell on the bed and gave a long muffled scream into her pillow.

Marco walked back into the guest room and shut the door. He noticed on the far table that they had done him the courtesy of bringing his synth keyboard from his home. He decided he would play a little before going to bed. He thought about everything that had happened today and about how Star was behaving around him. He thought about what he nearly said and how things would play out after the dangers had all gone away. There was a song that was playing in his head, and he decided to play it on the keyboard. It was some slow, soft version of the old 80's song "Love My Way." The melodic sound echoed through the room and both put him at ease and yet caused him to reflect further everything he would have to face tomorrow and further into the future.

Having finished the song, he felt even more confused. When confusion led to worry, he did his best to shake it off but couldn't. No, he refused to let himself sink that low. He was a better friend and boyfriend than one who'd cheat or break the trust of any of the girls in his life. Was he having another Marco moment? He then dressed, collapsed into bed, and instantly fell asleep.

The next morning, they would be heading for the ruins of the ancient monster temple.

The Mewni sun was just rising by the time Star, Marco, Moon, and twenty of toughest knights reached the lower portion of the ruined monster temple. The hooves of their warnicorns clacked and thumped up the stone stairs Star had built for them in order to ascend the high mountain.

"Uuuugh, so tired," Star moaned, "Mom, did we really have to wake up this early?"

"Yes, we absolutely did, Star," Moon answered, "Did you not go straight to bed after I took my leave?"

"I didn't sleep very well," Star replied.

"I slept like a log," Marco chimed in.

"Yoooou shut up," Star interjected, "It's a miracle I was able to even cast that stone stair spell at all."

"I hope you both understand," Moon explained, "we can't just sit on our proverbial hands on this. This threat is very real and could decimate not just the Mewni civilization but reality itself." The horses finally reached the top of the stairs. "Ah, at last we've reached the top…but it looks…different…"

Indeed, the temple Moon had raided with the High Commission now looked vastly different even after a couple of days. A huge plateau had formed around the vicinity of the structure, enough for more sod and grass to grow. In fact, it looked as if decades' worth of growth had ensnared much of the building. In part of the newly grown courtyard, two of the large rats (who were about the size of Jack Russell Terriers) were sitting on their hind legs planting seeds in a garden they had just made.

How could all of this have changed so much in the course of a few nights?

The weird thing about the rats was that they had no reaction to the visiting knights at all. Instead, they gave Queen Moon a seemingly dispirited, tired, yet sly grin before going back to planting their crops. Moon assumed it was corn they were growing (which of course was outlawed by non-Mewmans), but she wasn't about to investigate. The rats seemed different as well, and some gut feeling she had told her to stay away from them.

As the group proceeded on, they found themselves on a stone walkway leading to the stairs. On the way, they proceeded over a small bridge extending over a large stream of water whose origins they could not determine. The idea of a stream being here made no geological sense, but they saw that a large waterfall had been pouring from the mouth of one of the large stone statues out of the side of the temple. Within the stream were vast lili pads and among them floated small pink and white lotus flowers, all of which had fully blossomed to receive the rising sun's glorious rays.

Another new form of vegetation the group noticed was that of vast lotus trees on either side of the walkway leading to the stairs. The blooming pink flowers blossoming from each branch seemed to gleam in the new day's sunlight with the radiance of a thousand summer fireflies. In all of this, there was something about these trees to which each there assembled felt a connection, something that drew their eye and wanted to keep them there.

"Oooooh, they're soooo pretty," Star swooned, eyes wide and engaged at the tree, "They look almost good enough to eat." And with that, she began reaching for one of the petals once her horse was close enough.

"Don't you dare, Star," Moon commanded, batting Star's hand away.

"Your mom is right, Star," Marco interrupted, "I think I remember reading about these in some old book back on Earth. They may look pretty and taste great, but they're going to hypnotize you and put you to sleep…but yeah, they do look great." Marco began to reach for the brightly colored petals as well.

"That goes for you too, boy!" Moon shouted, swatting his hand as well, "May I remind you that under my watch, I can't have any of you getting distracted, no matter how mesmerizing the flora of the land is."

"We're all pretty disillusioned," said knight-commander Dugan, "but stay frosty and alert."

As they proceeded up the steps, Moon looked back and noticed two of her knights had dismounted and were proceeding to pick the budding petals from the tree branches. They then began stuffing them into their mouths, as a five-year-old kid in a candy store might do a tub of malted milk balls, and upon immediately doing this, fell to the ground asleep.

"I guess we're not seeing them back in Mewni for another year or so," Moon sighed.

"They're going to face some remedial tasks when they get back," Dugan grunted, "My knights must have more willpower than that."

The group proceeded up the long curving flights of stone stairs until finding the landing, one in which now had a new expansion to the main sanctum thanks to Moon's magic missile spell from her last battle there. On this landing, they found another of the hypnotic trees and lined along the ground leading to the entryway a collection of rats either sitting in full trance or lying sprawled out on what looked like yoga rugs. At the foot of each of these rugs was a black lotus flower.

Neither Marco or Star had ever seen a black lotus, let alone knew of their existence. Moon, on the other hand, definitely knew of their existence, and while she was tempted to pick one up for herself, she knew of the great cost they would bring to her and her family.

The fact that the rats had them disturbed her immeasurably.

The rats who were not asleep on their individual rugs sat staring at the newcomers of their domain, their gaze unblinking and downright unsettling. Star held her wand at the ready, in case one of them were to pounce, but they did not.

The group proceeded on to the main sanctum, brushing past the rubble to the main throne where sat a large rat chieftain, no doubt the one who could consume the most corn within a half hour.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak!" he yelled at the entering group who were now dismounting their horses. He wore a smile on his face that jutted from the edges of his snout. When the group noticed the other rats seated in a circle around the chief's throne didn't make any movement, they felt a little safer. Whatever he yelled, it wasn't an attack command.

"Does anyone in our group know the language of rats?" Moon asked.

"I do," shouted one young knight named Robin. He made his way forward and positioned himself between Moon and the rat chief. "Fortunately, they can understand the common tongue, but unfortunately they can't speak it given their vocal range."

"Squeeeeeak!" the rat yelled angrily.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Robin yelled back nervously, "Anyways, he says that he had anticipated us coming here and that we would learn the truth of what was to come?"

"Where is Toffee?" Moon addressed the rat chief, "What is he planning?"

The ran let out a long, hurried set of squeaks, sounding more excited as continued.

"He says," Robin translated, still nervous, "Toffee has being walking the various planes, gathering powers of the Old Ones. He came back and reshaped the land to allow them to cultivate the land how they like it. Since then, they've also been eating the lotus petals to help them sleep deep and stay focused in the Dreamlands for Toffee's return. None of them want to leave their new utopia, and he says that Toffee is promising them that they will not have to. As an added bonus, Toffee will somehow be nullifying all dimensional travel, scissors or otherwise, as reality comes collapsing in on itself and all realms are one. Any new dimensions will open up on their own time as all planes will intersect in some massive chaotic conflux."

"What?" Moon asked in disbelief, "That's absurd! But…it would explain the random portals that have opened without reason."

"I just got these scissors," Marco said, "and now they're useless?"

The rat squeaked once more, a bit slower and more menacing this time.

"He also says," Robin muttered, "That he will awaken Queen Eclipsa and gain her knowledge and power for his own."

At this point, the rats all started chanting in unison. It was a strange, ear-piercing set of squeaks that Star could have sworn would have brought the walls crumbling down with the sonic vibration.

"They're saying…" Robin shouted through the noise while covering his ears, "'Praise! Praise! Eclipsa dreams!'"

And with that, an enormous bright green portal opened above the rat chief as he laughed maniacally. Out of the portal came what looked like a large green gaseous shape that swirled and tumbled to the center of the room. The spinning cloud finally landed, and upon twirling even faster, shape-shifted into a 20-foot long, six legged, eight eyed alligator-like monster with a long serpentine head. It then roared at the Mewman group while the rats continued their chant.

The knights drew their swords and lunged at the beast, but the creature's scales were too thick for their weapons to pierce. It then batted a group of knights across the room with its enormous tail and picked up Robin in its jaws. Thankfully, his armor kept him safe from the beast's fangs, but it didn't feel good when the creature flung him out across the room, sending him crashing into one of the stone walls.

"I got this," Marco shouted, and he proceeded to do a jumping crescent kick to the monstrosity's head. It was a good, clean hit, but that was hardly enough to stop the giant lizard thing. It then grabbed Marco in one claw and tossed him aside.

"No, I got this," Star said and fired several magical bolts at the creature. Each bolt made it flinch and reel, but it still advanced forward and attempted to swipe one of its massive claws at her, but she thankfully darted out of the way.

"No," said Moon, "I 'got' this.'" She then transformed into her butterfly form and generated an energy sword out of her upper right hand. She flew in and began attacking the beast, although it blocked each of her attacks with its thick, sharp claws. At length, Moon found an opening and swiped her sword down at the beast, only to see it transform into mist once more. It then flew right behind Marco and turned once again into its alligator serpent form.

The beast then grabbed Marco with both of its claws and attempted to bite his head. Star was quick to react, however, and fired a Rainbow Fist Punch directly at the creature, knocking it back into the rat's makeshift throne and causing the rats to scatter. Then Star had an idea; if indeed this creature was mostly air-based, then…

"Mom, Marco, keep this thing busy," Star yelled, "I think I gotta plan!" Marco and Moon then continued to attack the creature who also continued to deflect each of their attacks or fase into mist and dodge them completely. Star waved her wand, and out of it came a pink ray. In a puff of colorful butterflies who all flew away, there appeared Cloudy.

"Hey Star!" Cloudy shouted in that same high pitched voice he always had.

"Cloudy! I need your help," Star explained, "You remember that thing I told you to never do ever ever ever again?"

"You mean where I turned into that tornado and almost killed Marco?"

"Yeah, I actually need you to do that right now, just maybe on a smaller scale this time," Star stammered, looking over at Marco and Moon, who were still continuing the struggle with the giant wind lizard thing.

"Okay," Cloudy replied, still as pleasant as always, "if you say so." With that, he looked like he was holding his breath while beginning to spin the rest of his body around clockwise in an ever accelerating pace. Star ran from him and grabbed Moon and Marco, pulling them down to the ground. Cloudy picked up the pace even faster and had now began to pull various bits of debris into his vortex. The monster turned into mist once more to try and get behind the humanoids who were now taking shelter on the ground, their necks covered, but then it began to feel Cloudy's pull.

The creature, still in mist form, began to get sucked into the immense vortex that was Cloudy. No amount of flying from the creature would allow it to escape the wind's grasp, and it now found itself spinning continually in a circle. In an instant, Cloudy ceased his hurricane, and the creature was then flung back into the portal.

"Oh that took a lot out of me, Star!" Cloudy moaned before poofing into a puff of pink smoke. But unfortunately, it became immediately evident that the force of the hurricane had shaken the foundation of the ancient ruins, giving way to what seemed like another collapse. The knights ran for the entrance, as did Moon, Star, and Marco. Massive stones fell from the ceiling, and Star had to dart here and there to avoid them. Fortunately, Moon and her knights had cleared the entrance, but suddenly, a vast cave in fell and trapped Star and Marco inside.

"Oh no," Moon muttered, "Star! Marco! Are you alright!"

"We're fine, mom!" Star shouted back on the other side of the rubble, "We're going to look for a way out...or blast one out." She then waved her wand and yelled, "SONIC RHINO SMASHER!" Her wand then generated a herd of rhinoceroses who all ran in a stampede at the mountain of rubble, only to collide with the immovable bricks and fall in a heap before disappearing.

"Wow," Marco said, "that's some thick rubble."

"If you can't get out yourself," Moon said, "I'll extract you myself." She then turned back into her butterfly form briefly and charged up some plasma energy in her hands, only to let it dissipate in her hand and her whole body feel the strain of having spent so much energy already. She fell to the ground, her hands holding her up.

"Don't overexert yourself, your majesty," Dugan told her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Mom...wait," Star said, and with that she became silent and began to focus. She began floating in the air, and her cheeks began to glow with a purple light. She could feel her energy well up, and all of it was now focusing into her palms. She then let out a torrent of plasma from her hands at the rubble, and while she knocked some of it away, it was still not enough to clear the entirety of the obstruction. She fell to the ground, and Marco held her to make sure she did not fall over. "I guess I still haven't mastered the whole 'dip down' thing."

"Guys, this is a total non-issue," Marco attempted to reassure them, "I'll just use my scissors, and we'll be out of here." He then withdrew his dimensional scissors and began cutting the air from the floor level moving up.

Nothing happened.

The rats came out of their hiding place to laugh at him.

"I guess Toffee did it," Marco shuddered, "He disabled all scissors across all dimensions."

"Squeak Squeak Squeeeeeeeeak!" the rat chief yelled at them, pointing at the still open portal, a huge grin across his face. They couldn't understand a word he said, but they did grasp his implications.

Star and Marco looked at each other and knew they didn't have any other choice but to step through the open portal...the very portal from which the monster came. But Toffee could be there, and if they could follow him now, they could end his nightmare.

"It looks like we've got no choice," Marco said, "Star, I'm not sure what we're going to face in there, certain death or otherwise, but before we go, I wanted to say what I've been meaning to say since I got here..." He took a deep breath, "If Jackie and I weren't..."

Star put her fingers on his lips and shushed him.

"Don't say it, Marco," she interrupted, "You're still a good, loyal guy, and I want you to stay that way, but please let me say something I know I shouldn't." She looked down at the ground for a second and then back up at him. "I love you, Marco Diaz. I think I have for a long time, and had I known what these feelings were, I would have said something a long time ago. We've known each other for what feels like forever, and I can't imagine going though anything without you. I guess what I'm also saying is that I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes and no matter where you are with Jackie. If you two ever part ways or stay together, I'll still be there for you, as a friend or hopefully one day a girlfriend."

"Please don't hold yourself to that," Marco replied, "You're not being fair to yourself to get hung up on me. We're both still young, and so much could change in a heartbeat for us. You know how chaotic our lives are; things just seem to be in constant flux with us."

"Well, this is how I feel right now," Star followed, "And I don't know what the future holds for us or what's waiting for us beyond that portal, but I do know that I want to always be there for you, no matter what."

She reached out and held his hand, their fingers locking with each other.

"Now, come on," Star continued in a resolved, take-charge tone, "We've got a lizard wizard to defeat."

The two walked hand in hand towards the portal which extended conveniently to ground level for them to face. They both hesitated for a moment.

Marco remembered reading an old quote in the school library once about how the oldest emotion was fear, and that the oldest type of fear was that of the unknown. He looked back at Star, who looked back at him. She then lifted his hand and kissed the back of it before letting it back down. Whatever unknown lurking horror lay beyond the dimensional gate, they would face it together.

"Well, here goes," Marco said, and the two of them stepped through the portal before it closed.


	12. Going with the Flow of Time

**Finished another one! I have to say I was hesitant in writing this one, namely for the stigma that surrounds OC's, but my SO was insistent on it, as she seems to prefer it when I write original characters. This part is a continuation from chapter 9, as we're back with Team Jackie. Enjoy.**

"You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past." ― Chuck Palahniuk

THE PREVIOUS DAY...

"Now really isn't the time, Miss Thomas," Selene said, brushing past Jackie and running over to Sol, "There's kind of a big crisis at hand."

"Well, on the bright side," Sol began in a cheerful voice, "I guess if he's out doing stuff, then we can go home?" His smile widened, and his free hand gave a thumbs up, as if trying to get Selene's permission for them to go back to their own time and dimension. The gremlin in the net in his other hand still squirmed and thrashed.

"No," Selene answered sternly, "We have to do something with these stupid gremlins. Why don't we try calling him." She then proceeded pull out her phone and attempted to call for Omnitraxis. Janna and Jackie both wondered how they could still get reception across dimensional space; maybe their phones had some different technology that could pick up any signal, but that wasn't the main concern on either of their minds.

"Soooo...who're we waiting for?" Janna asked, drawing out the words.

"Only the most awesome guy in the universe," Sol answered, still trying to remain cheerful, "Omnitraxis Prime, governor of space and time!"

"Space and time, eh?" Janna followed, "That actually sounds pretty cool."

"Oh yeah, I know that guy," Tom interjected, "He's part of the Magical High Commission."

"Magical High Commission?" Janna continued, "Now you've got me really interested."

The three of them looked over at Selene, who had now called each member of the High Commission and left a voicemail. She then proceeded to call both her mom and grandmother, but neither answered. She was clearly getting more frustrated than usual, but not more frustrated than Jackie, who had been looming behind her the whole time, arms crossed with an uncharacteristically grim look on her face.

"Now, if you're done with your phone calls," Jackie said, "it's time to talk."

"And I already told you," Selene retorted, "I can't answer you right now. And I have a feeling I know what you're going to ask, and you wouldn't like what you hear anyways. Trust me."

"Okay, let's take it down a notch," Jackie tried to shift her tone to her usual calmer one, "Let's all just chill out a little bit and think this over. I think talking to me might actually help things."

"I can't 'chill out,'" Selene stammered, "Don't you see? The space-time guy is gone, and reality is about to fall apart. And what can we do about it? I just need to concentrate and think of a plan of where to go and where he could be!" Selene wished her dad was there; he would have known what to do.

"If you chillax a bit," Jackie responded, "you'll think a little more clearly." Her tone grew even softer, and she reached up and rested her hands on Selene's shoulders and sat her down on one of the logs in the white sands of time. "Just breathe and relax, dude. Let's talk."

Several feet away, Janna, Tom, and Sol were watching this exchange in amazement.

"Wow," Janna said, "The high anxiety is strong with this one. Is she always like this?"

"I'll put it like this," Sol answered, pointing his thumb in Selene's direction, "Try to imagine your Marco on test day...now multiply that by ten. Anyways, we should leave those two alone for a few minutes. I think they have a few things they need to discuss."

Selene took a deep breath, getting ready to tell the younger version of one of the closest women to her where she came from. This wasn't going to be fun at all.

"As you probably already figured out," Selene began, "We're from the future."

"Yup, got that much," Jackie said.

"And time itself branches out in multiple directions," Selene continued, "creating an entire multiverse of possible realities."

"Dude, I've read a handful of DC and Marvel comics," Jackie replied, "That part strangely makes sense. What I want to know is your names; I didn't exactly catch those."

"Selene and Sol of Mewni..." Selene muttered.

"Your LAST names," Jackie insisted.

"Butterfly-Diaz."

No sooner had the words escaped Selene's lips than the gut wrenching feeling came. She didn't want to admit to this girl who she was, as she knew very well who Jackie was at this point in time. Jackie was probably feeling the same way, and she gave full evidence of this by plopping down next to Selene on the log, silent for a moment before softly speaking.

"I knew it," Jackie said, "I was thinking it was going to be either 'Butterfly' or 'Diaz,' but it makes sense that they would hyphenate it."

"I'm sorry," Selene sighed, "What gave it away?"

"I think it was a combination of things," Jackie answered, "Between the mole and the designs on your cheeks, you look like a mix of both of them."

"Didn't know I still did after all these years," Selene said back.

"So how do we break up?" Jackie asked, "Does he cheat on me or break it to me easy?"

"Cheat on you?" Selene asked rhetorically, "I'm not sure you fully know your Marco. No, he's loyal to a fault. In fact, I'm not sure, but I think you're the one who breaks it off with him, at least per my timeline." She looked over and saw Jackie's eyes widen in disbelief. "Don't worry; as I understand, you're very nice about it, and no one ends up angry."

"But you said that you're from one possible future right?" Jackie asked, "There's a chance Marco and I stay together?"

"Actually, there is," Selene replied, trying to sound upbeat (and probably failing), all while standing to give her explanation, "There's one reality where you two are still together and have a son. I've met him; great guy. He's like the brother I never had." She paused for a moment, and the tone in her voice turned serious again. "But ultimately, that's not your Marco, and you're not you there."

"What do you mean?"

"Your behavior, attitudes, personality, everything that makes you...you," Selene explained, "It's entirely different. Your life turned a different direction at that point, as did Marco's to the point where the individual self that you know...well, you're both simply different people than you are here and now. The Marco you know in this universe, he's always going to be a bit uptight and insecure, something that will probably drive you crazy down the road if you stay with him, and you're not going to be able to change him no matter how hard you might try."

"I wasn't planning on changing him," Jackie groaned, "Just, I wish he would lighten up and relax a bit more. I can kinda tell that you might take after him a bit."

"Thanks," Selene replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "I get that a lot. But I want to say something that might make you feel better. And given the place we're in, time and space basically have no meaning here, so I'm not as worried about paradoxes. It's all pretty much busted to bupkis anyway."

Jackie looked around her at the realm. With all the melting clocks, this realm looked as if Salvador Dali mashed with some modern art lense flare effects and background shading. Yeah, wherever this was, she trusted Selene's word that knowing the future really wouldn't affect much here. She turned back to Selene, awaiting her proverbial fortune to be told.

"You at least still remain friends with Star and Marco for the next several decades," Selene began her story, "They constantly travel back to Earth to visit with you, and you actually take some of your vacations in Mewni. I'm always happy to see you when you do. To be honest, you're one of the coolest women I know, and no matter what stress I was under, be it studying magic, mathematics, or how to be queen one day...basically political science 101…you and your family have always been there to help me relax and cut loose. I think you're a history teacher on Earth, but I'm not entirely sure. I know it's a subject and career you're passionate about, besides your obvious love of skateboarding. You even break some sort of state record with it."

"This...is already sounding awesome," Jackie said.

"You're awesome," Selene continued, and the two of them laughed together, "In fact, you're the one who taught me how to skateboard. There was this one time where we both ramped off the side of the Butterfly castle and did a 360 kick flip right into the Mewni street. It was so awesome...until I ate it when I ran into an ore cart and busted my head open." Selene gave a chuckle. "I still remember, you actually got me to the castle infirmary, apologized up and down to mom, and the two of you didn't leave me until the healers said I was better. It's too bad neither mom or I had a strong enough healing spell at the time. Healing magic really isn't our strong suits."

She paused, took another breath, and shifted focus.

"My point, though," Selene stated at last, "is that things turn out okay for you, or at least they will if we can fix what's wrong with the universe right now."

"If all that's true," Jackie said, "it does sound pretty cool. I've always just kind of been a go-with-the-flow type; I guess that eventually pays off if I keep following what I want to follow. So do I get married to anyone eventually? Just curious."

"Oh yeah," Selene answered, "He's actually a pretty cool, laid-back guy as well. He teaches music, but I'm not sure at what level."

"Soooo...any kids?"

That was the question Selene was hoping Jackie didn't ask. Her face turned beat red, and she sat back down and faced the other direction.

"Actually yes," Selene replied nervously, "You have a son...he's maybe a year younger than me. Not that much." Her heart was pounding, and she was trying not to show it. How much more did she really want to tell this girl? Would knowing this mess her up even further or would she be happy to hear about this?

"What's he like?"

"Oh, well, you know" Selene stammered a bit (she almost sounded like Star when she did), "He's got his mom's coolness and that same awesome streak in his hair. And he's totally, totally, totally chill. And he's also really good at skateboarding, has an extensive knowledge of Earth history, can play some of the most relaxing, mellowed out electronic music I've heard, and...just an overall great guy...you know?"

"Do you...have a crush on him?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Selene didn't know how to answer this. How could she tell her they were well beyond the "crush" stage and had been for almost a year? In fact, she had been thinking of popping the question to him once their job with fixing reality was done. She knew he was about to do the same thing and wanted to beat him to it. But how would the younger version of his mom react to this? She didn't really want to find out, so she dodged the question entirely.

"I think that's enough future talk for one day," Selene laughed nervously, "But if you want a little more gossip..." She then directed Jackie's gaze towards Sol, Janna, and Tom, all of who were riding atop a giant space-time hamster. Sol was laughing like a maniac, and for a moment, Jackie thought his voice had some of the same inflections as Star's when she would get excited and shout. "Janna and Tom get married much later, and now Sol's dating their daughter, though they don't know it yet. They haven't come out and said anything, but everyone knows how close they already were as friends. I for one am excited for them." She gave Jackie this weird forced smile, hoping she'd focus on that and let go of what she had asked her.

Jackie gave a warm smile back, shook her head, and laughed. She may not have known all the details of the future, but she knew she would do what she always did and let things flow like water. Even if Marco wasn't in her life romantically, she was still content with seeing what life had in store for her and what the next tide of time would bring.

"You know, I don't need to know all the details," Jackie responded, "but the future sounds fun."

Selene understood and was happy Jackie didn't pressure her.

"It does," Selene answered, "I'm still wondering what mine holds. And you were right; I do feel better after talking." She shifted tone again, still erratic as always. "But that's enough distraction. We need to get back on track here. The universe isn't going to fix itself." She turned to look at the rest of the group and the flailing giant hamster. "Sol, get ready. We're leaving."

The three of them dismounted the gargantuan hamster, feeling a bit dejected.

"Aww, man," Sol sulked, his voice sounding like a little kid who had to leave the arcade, "We were having so much fun."

"You'll both have to invite me back here some time," Janna said, "This place is awesome."

"You still haven't seen my place yet," Tom interjected.

"I can only imagine," Janna replied, her eyes wide with curiosity.

We've gotta do something about these dang gremlins," Selene griped.

"Fine," Sol moaned back, "I'll put them in my wrist storage." With that, Sol reached out his hand, bent his wrist, and the blue light in his armband proceeded to vacuum up the gremlins, both the one in the snare and the one in Selene's storage bubble.

"Since no one is calling me back," Selene said, "I'm going to go find him on my own. It must be serious for him to even consider leaving this plane. He's probably at the Bureaucracy of Magic." She then produced her scissors from her belt pouch and attempted to open a portal.

Nothing happened.

She tried snipping the air again, this time with more deliberate snipping motions.

Nothing happened.

"What's going on?" she asked, the concern in her voice rising, "Why won't it work?"

"Here," Sol spoke up, taking the scissors from her, "Maybe you're not doing it right."

"How can you 'not do it right?'" Selene asked rhetorically, "They're dimensional scissors; they're kind of easy to operate." Sol ignored her and proceeded to make his own snips. Nothing happened at first, but then a massive blue portal opened five feet in front of him.

"Maybe it's just delayed a bit," Sol stated.

"That's not how they work," Selene groaned under her breath. Sol shrugged and proceeded through the portal. The rest of the group decided to do the same. Jackie was the last to leave. She breathed a sigh, thinking about everything that Selene had told her, and then proceeded through the portal herself.

No sooner had she stepped through than she felt as if she had lost her footing and proceeded to fall a good ten feet before landing in the rough blue waves of a vast sea. She regained her composure and was able to float up and keep her head above water. The rest of the group had also landed in the same waters and were swimming to stay afloat.

She then found her skateboard floating in front of her with perfect buoyancy. What did her uncle make that thing out of? She thought the wheels and axles would have at least weighed it down. She decided not to question it any further and grabbed it.

"I swear," Sol cried out, spitting water out of his mouth, "I was picturing the High Commission's chambers."

"Yeah, I don't think those scissors are working," Selene yelled over the roaring waves, "There's something else afoot here."

"Wherever we are, I hate it," Tom griped, spitting out what looked like a small cylindrical fountain of water from his mouth before talking, "It's ruining my hair."

"Aww, come on," Janna laughed, "It looks great." She then proceeded vigorously tease and fluff the now wet, matted hair on his head with her hands.

"Okay, we've got to think of a plan," Selene said, and pointed to Tom, "Sparky, you lift me up in the air. I need some space to cast a decent boat spell."

Tom didn't argue with her. The sea around him began to boil, and he eventually shot out of it like a rocket and hovered in the air. He swooped down and picked up Selene by the armpits, hoisting her out of the water. While Tom was still holding her, Selene began to focus has hard as she could before finally letting out an energy blast from the wand.

"Massive WARSHIP!" She called out, and the beam generated a large 18th century vessel, complete with pirate flag. Tom and Selene landed on the pristine oak and cedar deck.

"Wow," Sol said, "One of your high level spells actually worked this time."

"You know, I could just leave you down there."

"Then you'd miss my jokes."

"I would." She gave her brother a wink and let down some rope. Janna, Sol, and Jackie all climbed aboard the ship, Jackie having to toss her seemingly indestructible skateboard onto the deck before climbing to her feet.

"Okay, where are we now?" Janna asked.

"Somewhere horrible and way too wet for my taste," Tom said, taking off his jacket and ringing the water from it.

"I don't know about you guys," Jackie responded, "But I feel strangely at home here. It's been too long since I had a good swim in sea water."

"Judging by the weird viridian sky and the incoming dark clouds," Selene state, "I'd say we're on the Elemental Plane of Water."

"Oh great," Sol groaned sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "The last time we were here, a group of merrow raiders attacked me."

"Well right now," Selene followed, "we've got bigger things to worry about than some deranged merfolk. Everyone, batten down the hatches and get below deck. There's a bad storm heading our way right now, per usual on this plane."

Everyone ran below deck and ensured all ports were fastened and that there was no chance they could take on water. No sooner had they done that then the ship rocked violently back and forth, everyone attempting to grab a wooden poll to keep their balance. Unfortunately, Tom couldn't grab one in time and fell backwards.

Fortunately, Janna caught him in time before he hit the starboard wall and pulled him close. She was happy to be close to him again, although Tom began feeling a little seasick, his face becoming even more pale than usual.

"If you're going to barf, let me know," Janna said.

"It shouldn't be too much longer," Selene shouted, "Just hold on!"

And the group rode out the storm for what seemed like another two hours. During that time, Jackie thought she heard something below the ship, deep beneath the waves. Or was it only in her mind? There was some sort of chanting, muffled by the water, shouting "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ia, Dagon! Ia, Hydra! Ia, Eclipsa!" But no sooner had she made out the hideous import of the chanting than it faded.

It was strange. From the moment Jackie arrived on this plane, she felt an odd kinship to it, as if she had been here long ago, swimming beneath the tremendous, violent waves deep to the sunken city, having swam great lengths with the merfolk and attempted at great lengths a diplomacy with the ever-violent merrow.

She shook her head, and found herself back on the boat, still holding on and weathering the raging storm.

Eventually, the storm died down, and the group headed back to the deck. What greeted them was the vast night sky, littered with millions of small glimmering stars, some forming spectacular, hypnotic clusters. Even more glorious was the streaming, colorful aurora that swam through the sky like some vivid, twisting river.

"Next order of business," Selene said, "We search for land."

"They actually have dry land on a plane full of water?" Janna asked, "Hardly seems consistent of it."

"There should be a portal on one of the islands that leads back to Mewni," Selene answered, "I guess they wanted to at least have some way of traveling between dimensions for those who didn't have their own scissors."

"So which direction should we go?" Jackie asked.

"Follow the stars," Sol replied, "Last time I was here, we followed these." He then pointed to a certain constellation off the port side.

For the next hour or so, having turned the ship in the direction they needed to go, the group decided who would be taking watch and when. Tom lost his game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to Janna, and flew to the crow's nest, at which time a crow flew by and perched atop his horn. He could only sigh at this and let the bird stay.

Jackie went below deck to one of the sleeping chambers. An oil lamp lit the well furnished room in a dim golden light. The bed was covered in red satin sheets, adorned with ornate pillows. She breathed another sigh and decided to get ready.

"Goodnight, Jackie," Selene said in the doorway.

"Goodnight," she replied.

"And, about what I said earlier," Selene followed up, "Your future really isn't set in stone. You can still choose other paths that could branch off into another universe."

"You know," Jackie continued, "with the way my life moves, I've always been the type to just see where the road takes me, not worried about fate or destiny or any of that. I'll just have to wait and see where these waves take us. That's what makes life fun."

"Indeed," Selene replied, "Well, goodnight and sleep well."

"You too," Jackie responded. With that, Selene shut the door. Jackie crawled into bed, and looking out the small portal window in the side of ship at the lurid stars and the streaming aurora, fell asleep.


	13. Hungry Larry's Revenge

Star and Marco arrived on the other side of the portal, expecting to find the lair of the beast they had just fought. What the found instead was what looked like the hallway of some old Victorian manor. Marco had to stop himself before running into one of the red walls with various paisley swirls across them.

"Whoa," Marco yelped, "Was NOT expecting a wall there."

"And Marco," Star muttered, "before you ask, I have nooooo idea where we are."

The portal closed behind them.

The two looked both ways down the hall, which was dimly lit by black iron gas lamps that protruded from the walls. To their left at roughly ten feet away was a well lit door that appeared to be made of pure, solid gold. To their right, was what looked like the beginning of a grand curved staircase that led downward; the hall continued onward into pitch blackness beyond that. For a moment, Marco looked at one of the designs in the wallpaper, and one of the paisleys seemed to appear as an eye, watching him. He blinked, and the design was back to normal.

"Yeah, and I can't say I want to stay here too long," Marco said, shuddering, "We should find a way out."

"I'm right there with you," Star retorted, grabbing Marco's arm with both hands.

There was a loud din of three successive booms that echoed throughout the house, causing Star and Marco to jump. The sound seemed to have come from downstairs. The two decided to bravely make their way towards the staircase, Star letting one hand free of Marco's arm to grab her wand in case they were to encounter anything unsavory down there. Just before reaching the stairs, Marco looked over and saw a familiar painting; it was that of the ancient mariner, which had also hung in Star's room back on Earth while she had lived there. As expected, per the cliche, it looked as if the eyes were following Marco; it would be kind of funny at the typicalness of the situation if it weren't so creepy actually being in the situation.

They reached the top of the dark red carpeted stairs and saw that they led down into a large foyer, furnished with various items that looked as though they had come from anywhere between the 1890's to the 1930's. There was a massive set of jet black double doors, and to either side of these doors were tall, arched, gothic windows that ran as high as the second story on which they stood. Marco attempted to look out of one of these windows from where he stood, but all he could see was darkness.

Our heroes proceeded down the stairs to see if they could find the source of the sound, the stairs making a creak sound with each step.

"I think someone had been knocking at the door," Marco said.

"I…don't think we should answer it," Star muttered, "I've got a bad feeling about this place."

"Well, at least it might lead us out of here," Marco responded. He then reached for the door, turned the handle, and found that it was locked. Looking up, his eyes spotted the inside locking mechanism above the knob. He attempted to turn it but found it had been rusted into place, causing him to groan in frustration. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy."

The two then separated and looked for an open door. All other doors in the foyer were locked, save for the one to the left of the stairs, which led to the putrid kitchen. Star thought she smelled something fowl in there, and sure enough, when they checked the sink, she found some rancid old pork in there. She looked around the rest of the kitchen and found the walls were covered in thick, black ectoplasm. As she moved to leave, she found that she stepped in some of it, almost sticking her boot to the floor had she not forcefully pulled up from it.

Suddenly, there came the sound of some grand piano playing. Marco recognized the tune as that of the ancient traditional song, "MacCrimmon's Lament." He heard it once at a ren fair he visited (which, of course, was being played from a bagpipe at the time) and didn't remember most of the lyrics the singer had sung, but one line stood out in his head, something about a banshee. The two proceeded to the door to the left of the entrance, which they thought was previously locked, only to find that it was now slightly ajar.

Star gathered her courage, took a deep breath and peered in, discovering it led to the music room, complete with a grand piano in the center. It was still playing as they entered, no one sitting at the seat. They walked around the piano, Star holding her wand at the ready, and found the keys were moving up and down on their own, as though some invisible force were playing them. Star waved her wand over the piano bench to try and feel whatever invisible figure would have been playing the keys, only to find empty air. No sooner had she done this than the song cut short and the keys stopped moving.

Immediately, there came an even louder, more deliberate knock at the door, followed immediately with an ear-piercing scream that came in the direction of the entryway that forced both Star and Marco to cover their ears. The scream lasted for half a minute (though it felt like an eternity) before finally fading, allowing them to uncover their ears.

"Maybe it is a banshee haunting this house," Marco muttered.

"A what?"

"Nothing."

Star then noticed something inside the piano, lodged between the strings. It was a gold key in pristine condition, causing it to stand out from the rest of the decrepit condition of the mansion. Thinking it might be important (perhaps to unlock the room in the upper hall), she took the unexpectedly heavy key with her.

Upon leaving the room, the two found nothing in the foyer. No furniture was touched; no spec of dust was out of place from when they had last left it. They did, however, hear something coming from the top of the stairs. It sounded like a woman's voice, but they could not make out what she was saying. They decided to proceed up the stairs.

The voice was louder now, and seemed to be coming from the end of the hall near the golden door. It was evident now that this voice wasn't speaking so much as laughing, and as Star and Marco, came closer to the bright, golden door, the laughing grew louder and louder. No sooner had they finally reached the door than the laugh stopped.

"Do we really want to go in there?" Marco asked.

"Well, there seems to be something important in this room," Star replied, "and we need to find a way out of here somehow."

"Where is this bravery coming from all of a sudden?" Marco continued, "You seemed so nervous about this place earlier."

"Yeah, well, I know I've got my magic and I've got you," Star answered and gave him a wink, "Besides, I think this key and this door might be a clue at least." With that, she used the key to unlock the golden door and slowly opened it, her pull revealing how heavy it was.

What they found in there was not what they had expected. It looked like it might have been a nursery at one time, the floor covered in old toys, including a rocking horse that was moving on its own. At this point, objects moving by themselves was not that strange, so they decided not to worry about it as much. The room was well lit in a golden light from a gaslight on one of the nightstands.

The walls, however, were lined with old, porcelain dolls, each with a different dress and in a different pose. Some were holding teacups, some holding books and appearing to read. There had to have been at least two hundred of them circling around the room. The most peculiar, if not the most frightening, aspect about them was that none of them had eyes. Their empty, soulless sockets disturbed Marco the more he looked at them, so he did his best not to look up at them.

This had to be the most off-putting room they had found in the house.

"Those dolls are freaking me out," Marco muttered.

"I know," Star said, "but we've got to look for clues in here. There has to be something important in here."

"And I think I may have found something," Marco replied, looking at the far end of the room. In the corner were two very large trunks, which were opened to reveal that they contained gold Spanish doubloons, all in mint condition. He rushed in and began sifting his hands through the ancient yet seemingly untouched coins before pocketing as many as his two hands would allow.

"Uuuuuuh, Marco," Star murmured, pointing her finger above his head, a nervous look on her face, "I think you'd better put those back."

"Why; what's wrong?" he asked.

He then looked up to see the dolls had moved from their positions and were all staring in his direction. He turned on his feet, but no sooner had he shifted his weight than the dolls leapt from their shelves and began attacking him with the various objects they were holding.

"Gah!" Marco shouted, "Get off of me, you creepy things!" On their own, their attacks may not have hurt that much, but a collection of them began overwhelming him, like a swarm of scarab beetles.

"Hold still, Marco!" Star yelled, aiming her wand at the creatures.

"Easier said than done!" Marco retorted, punching and kicking each doll where he could. This wasn't enough to stop the swarm.

Star fired a bolt from her wand, blasting one of the dolls into the wall and embedding it there. She fired a few more bolts and knocked a few more dolls away from Marco. The eyeless dolls then turned their attention to her and began marching in her direction. She blasted a few more as Marco jumped over them and grabbed her by the hand. The two ran out the door and down the hall. They looked back for a moment and saw one of the dolls grab the edge of the heavy door.

"AND STAY OUT!" the doll shouted, in a high-pitched, squeaky voice before shutting the door. That familiar black ectoplasm began oozing from the top of the door and began covering it the same way it had the walls of kitchen, encrusting it.

"Whelp, I guess that didn't have anything important after all," Star shrugged.

"Hey, I got some gold out of the mess," Marco exuberantly stated, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets to feel the gold again.

"Now who's the big risk taker?" Star asked sarcastically.

Suddenly, there came yet another pounding at the door. It was that same loud, deliberate pounding that continued for several minutes and chilled the marrow in their bones. The knocking ceased, and the two built up their courage before venturing to the steps. They made their way downstairs, Star keeping her wand at the ready for whatever it could be. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Marco saw that this time, the lock had moved; the door could be opened.

Marco opened the door and found nothing but darkness. It was as if nothing existed beyond the house, as though the house were floating in empty space. The two of them stared into the abyss, wondering where they were and what this house was, fearing what may be within that darkness, and beginning to doubt if they were ever going to reach Mewni again.

"Hello," a familiar, casual voice came from behind them, causing them to jump. They turned around to find it was none other than Hungry Larry, standing and staring up at them.

"Uh, hi…" Marco muttered.

"I want you to know that I'm not very happy with you," Hungry Larry stated in a stoic, nonchalant voice, "First, you decide you don't like my services and kick me out of your house, then you come and invade my home, then you steal some of my long collected gold. So no…I can't say I'm pleased with you."

"We're sorry, Larry," Star began to explain, "We didn't know where…"

"And now, I really want to exact my revenge on you," Larry continued in his calm, matter-of-fact tone.

"We really are sorry…" Marco followed up.

But his words were cut short as Larry grew enormous and let out a loud guttural roar.

All Star and Marco could think to do was run and immediately dart in the direction of the music room. Thankfully, there was a portal hovering just inside the piano lid. Larry was hot on their tails as they ran for it. They each climbed into the piano and through the portal, Larry only ten feet from them.

Star and Marco then found themselves in a long, enormous dark hallway, with low glowing blue lit walls. Small yellow glowing dots hovered in the air roughly 15 feet away from each other. They weren't sure where they were, but the knew they had to keep running. Sure enough, Larry followed closely behind them.

As they ran, they heard some sort of strange, electronic whistling sound and soon, coming around the corner of the hall behind them was something much larger than Hungry Larry, something big, yellow, and glowing. It had large black eyes and a mouth that continued to open and close in rapid succession. In no time at all, it gobbled up Hungry Larry, not even allowing him to make a yelp. There was glowing electronic number, 200, that appeared in the air for some reason.

Still, this yellow, all-consuming monstrosity didn't seem to be slowing down. Star and Marco continued to run down the twisting hallway, the massive creature behind them eating the dots as they passed them. They had to dart this way and that in order to avoid him.

"Just…gotta wait…for another portal," Marco panted, the two of them slowing down at the corner.

"It's not…coming…soon enough…" Star muttered, trying to catch her breath as well. They soon saw the yellow monster again. Star had enough; she fired a bolt of energy at the creature with the wand, but it quickly deflected off the yellow monster and hit the wall. Magic was a no-go on this thing as well. They continued running until they realized they had doubled back where they were, as there were no floating dots at this area.

Finally, there opened a portal in the wall.

"Took your sweet time, collapsing universe!" Marco shouted, and the two of them jumped into the portal.

The first thing they noticed in this next area was the smell. There was a scent of brine paired with something that was definitely burning. Star, however, could not see where they were as she went head long into a mess of blonde hair with a familiar turquoise streak in it. She fell down and landed on her butt, grabbing her head in pain.

"Ow," Star let out a groan, "A head injury is not what you want to be greeted with when traveling through dimensions. After some indignation, she looked up to see with whom she had collided.


	14. How Jackie Got There

As Jackie looked out the window at the dim yet lucid stars and the calm, glimmering waves, all while feeling the Antarctic rocking of the boat, it was no surprise that she drifted off to sleep peacefully, her mind allowing her to drift into the blackness of the dream lands for which she would surely find herself. This feeling of absolute tranquility was unfortunately short lived, as Jackie found herself standing on a granite surface, glazed with what she thought was either rain or sea water. She looked up to find herself in what looked like a vast, twisted city, its cyclopian towers bending and distorting at odd angles. The only thing she felt that she could do was progress through the ancient streets of this seemingly abandoned city. Behind her was what looked like a port connected to the endless crashing waves to which she had fallen asleep. Still, she continued through this horrifying eldritch location, looking down each street corner, the ever present feeling that some horrible creatures were watching her from every alcove.

After what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, she found herself at the entrance of some vast temple, two great statues outlining it. The statues were the effigy of what looked like enormous fish-gorilla hybrids, one looking more masculine and the other feminine. There was some weird writing at the base of each statue in a language she couldn't read but was altogether still familiar to her. As this adventure since Star's disappearance had progressed, she had noticed how in touch she had been with all things aquatic. What could this possibly mean to her?

"Jackie..." some soft voice whispered on the wind from the dark, drizzling sky.

She then looked back at the shadowy archway of the temple and saw the immensity that was the vast, maddening, and horrifically magnificent Cthulhu, lumbering slobberingly into our world from beyond the nightmares of humanity and the cosmic collective.

"JACKIE!" It cried out in a horrific, gelatinous voice.

"Jackie...Jackie, wake up!" Selene's voice echoed in Jackie's ears.

"Ugh, octopus face..." Jackie moaned, opening her eyes and causing Selene to look very confused.

"No more time for weird dreams," Selene said in an abrupt, deliberate tone, "We're getting out of here. Come on."

Jackie let go of the pillow she was hugging, wiped the drool from her mouth and the snot from her nose, and got up from the soft, still-welcoming bed. She got dressed again while looking out the window at the beautiful, light blue sky and the ever rippling waves. If the scissors were to ever work again, if such a thing were possible, perhaps Star or Marco could let her visit this plane again; she felt an odd connection to it. Really, the two of them enjoyed a good swim every once in awhile; why not tell them that the three of them could go on a cruse together, provided the merrow from her weird visions yesterday don't attack.

Upon putting her shirt back on, she grabbed her ever-enduring skateboard, left the room and headed up to the deck where Janna, Tom, and Sol were waiting for her.

"You're awake!" Janna cried with some excitement.

"Awesome!" Sol exclaimed.

"About time, woman!" Tom grumbled, "We've been waitin' on you!"

Janna jammed Tom in the ribs with her elbow.

"Watch the attitude, mister," she scolded him while pointing an accusing finger at him before leaning up to kiss him, "She just needed a little more sleep, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Tom replied. "I guess I'm worried that this portal is going to close soon. I mean, most of the ones we've run into have closed after several minutes; this one's lasted an hour."

"What portal?" Jackie asked. She then looked at the helm of the ship, just up the stairs where the wheel stood. Behind it was a massive blue glowing portal that stood roughly ten feet tall. As Jackie moved closer to it, she thought she heard techno music coming from the other side. Wherever it was, they seemed to like the style of Deadmau5.

The group heard Selene coming up the stairs, hauling trunks of clothing and equipment.

"Okay, I think I got it all," she said.

"Are you sure this time?" Sol chided.

"Yes," Selene responded frankly, "I triple checked. Now, if you please…"

He held out his wrist and vacuumed the various trunks into the orb in his bracelet.

"How much can that thing store?" Tom asked.

"I...don't know," Sol answered, "but I haven't hit capacity yet."

"Either way, we need to head through that portal," Selene stated.

"I'm curious to find out where it will lead us next," Jackie mused, "This place was pretty awesome, so the next place should be, too, right?"

The group continued to stare in awe at the radiant dimensional gateway before taking several steps toward it, not realizing the dangers they were about to face. They could not have anticipated that at that moment, there came several massive pink tentacles over the bow of the ship, ready to crush anything within their path.

"So much for a low-key day," Jackie said, dodging one of the tentacles. She held her skateboard at the ready and wacked one of the other tentacles away with it.

"Ah, crap," Tom shouted, "can't we just have one relaxing day for a change?" He flew out of the way of one of the tentacles and hurled a fireball at it.

"Quit complaining," Janna retorted, pulling the Yithian lighting gun seemingly from nowhere, "and let's fry us some calamari." She fired several small bolts of lighting at each tentacle that came near them.

"Let's not waste time trying to subdue this thing!" Selene shouted, "We just need to get through that portal." She aimed her wand at the nearest tentacle, charged up an energy blast before finally releasing it and blowing the tip off one of the tentacles that got near her. It went flying from the creature and landing on the deck with a thud. But of course, that wasn't enough to stop whatever this was from continuing its assault on the boat.

"Come on!" Sol yelled, charging forward. He hopped in the air and jumped on top of one of the tentacles that came near him. He ran across the hulking thing like a ninja towards the port of the ship where the portal hovered. He leaped from the tentacle and landed directly into the portal.

"If that idiot can do it, so can you all," Selene shouted to the group. With that, she herself pushed forward, using her wand to blast away tentacles as they flew near her. Finally, she made her way up the stairs at the bow of the ship before leaping through the portal.

"You heard the woman, Tom," Janna said.

"What, that Sol is an idiot?" Tom asked.

"Well, that," Janna answered, "But we also gotta rush the bow. Come on!" She then grabbed Tom's hand, the other trying to hold up the heavy lightning gun. She dragged her demon boy with her while firing out short bursts of electricity at each tentacle that came her way before making it to the stairs, stopping at the top, and turning back to the deck. "Come on, Jackie!" she shouted.

"Right on, dudes!" Jackie yelled back to her before breaking into a sprint towards the stairs herself, skateboard at the ready. Jackie wacked each tentacle that came her way with it until she finally reached the stairs. Just as she proceeded to take her first step, another tentacle grabbed her leg from behind and pulled her from the railing. While still holding her in its tentacle, a massive squid head rose from the depths to meet her, face to gargantuan eye.

The worst thing about it was that it spoke to her. It didn't speak from its mouth; that was still underwater. It communicated telepathically.

"Jackie," she heard the beast say in a low droning voice in her head, "you need to come with us."

"What?" Jackie muttered.

"You're not well, Miss Thomas," the creature continued to beam its words into her mind, "You need to come back with us to Arkham. The state of California has deemed you insane, and we are here to help you, on the condition that you follow us back to Massachusetts."

"Insane?" Jackie asked, "What are you talking about, Mr. Squid dude?"

"I'll explain in our next therapy session if you like…"

Just then, a burst of lighting shot through the air and hit the tentacle, causing it to drop Jackie back to the deck. Jackie looked up to see Janna had shot the tentacle with her alien ray gun; Janna gave her a wink and nudged with her head in the direction of the portal before dragging Tom through it as well. There was no time to think. Jackie rushed back to the stairs, ran up them, and leapt through the portal.

Jackie immediately found herself in a vast but rocky desert, capitalized by a humungous pyramid aligned with strange creatures that she could only think to call goblins. A huge line of various humanoid creatures spread across the sands, and at the end of it was what looked like a food truck, a real version of one of the depicted creatures running the stand. It looked like he was hard at work.

"Thank corn you made it," Selene said, patting Jackie's shoulder before turning her around and giving her a tremendous hug, "I'm so glad you're okay, other mo…I mean Jackie."

"Dude, you can call me that if you want," Jackie laughed, "I'm sure your boyfriend would approve of that, too."

"I guess…he would…" Selene stuttered, letting go of her while trying to think of how to distract from further discussing this.

"HEY GIRL!" a familiar voice called from near the line. It was none other than Pony Head, and with her were Kelly, Janna, Tom, and Sol. Selene breathed yet another sigh of relief.

"Hey, Pony Head," Jackie said, walking over, "What brought you all out here? I thought you were back on Earth."

"WELL, YOU KNOW," Pony Head began, "A HUGE PORTAL OPENED UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND SUCKED US IN, AND NOW WE'RE HERE, SO YEAH, MIGHT AS WELL WAIT FOR A GOBLIN DOG!"

"It just kind of came out of nowhere," Kelly continued, "One minute, we watched a possum transform into a pelican, and the next minute a portal opens up to suck us in."

"They've kinda been popping up all over the place," Tom said, "Of course, they're the only way now between worlds since the scissors aren't working."

"YEAH, I NOTICED THAT!" Pony Head chimed, "LIKE, WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!? IT'S LIKE ALL OF A SUDDEN, NOTHING!"

"Wish we knew," Selene said, walking up behind Jackie, "but it's going to have some major problems if we can't get back to Mewni."

"And how fast does this line move?" Sol asked, "A goblin dog sounds really good right now."

"Pardon me for asking," Kelly interjected, "But who are these two?"

"Guys," Jackie answered, "This is Selene and Sol…They're also from Mewni."

"THEY LOOK AN AWFUL LOT LIKE STAR and EARTH TU…I MEAN MARCO," Pony Head blurted out.

"We get that a lot," Sol said with a smile.

"We're from the future," Selene felt she needed to explain with a soft tone, rolling her eyes and giving a small growl at Sol, "But keep it down. We dont' want too many people knowing for fear we might somehow set off a paradox."

"So does that mean…?" Kelly began to ask, but she knew the answer. Everyone looked at Jackie, waiting for her to respond, but she didn't. Both Janna and Kelly walked over put their hands on Jackie's shoulders.

"It's fine, guys," Jackie said with a half smile, "I'm okay with this."

"Are you sure?" Janna asked.

"Dude, you know me," she answered, "I just gotta go with the flow. But I would like to check out that awesome pyramid over there."

"I'll go with you," Janna said, "Who knows what could be inside there. Oh, please let there be some cursed goblin mummies."

The two proceeded passed the line and the truck towards the massive structure. As they did, Janna looked back to see Selene talking with the group for a second and following after them, most likely to keep them safe in case anything happened. Janna wondered why she felt the need to do this; she and Jackie could take care of themselves.

Once they were within roughly 25 feet from the base, they discovered just outside of it were what looked like a collection of Mewmans and Monsters alike, all dressed in black robes, chanting something in a low, droning tone. They determined from this that it must be some kind of temple, the structure resembling some strange mix of both Egyptian and Aztec. Likewise, there were some hieroglyphics on the side of the temple, but Jackie couldn't read them. She turned to Janna, to find that she was equally puzzled.

As the girls drew closer, they could hear what the hooded figures were saying: "Ia, Nyarlathotep! Ia, Bill Cipher! Ia, Ia, Eclipsa fhtagn!"

"Jackie, we need to get out of here..." Janna murmured, grabbing Jackie's arm, "I heard a name I recognized, this Bill Cipher guy. If he's who I'm thinking of, and these guys are about to resurrect him, then we need to get as far away as possible."

"Yeah," Jackie agreed, the dread within her rising, "We should tell the group..."

Suddenly, a portal opened roughly ten feet from above the entrance of the temple, a pale blue glowing portal about 15 feet in diameter. Out of this portal came long black tentacles that flailed this way and that but soon gripped around the edges of the portal. Finally, descending from the portal was none other than Ludo, his eyes glowing green, clearly showing the signs of his possession.

He spoke in a much deeper voice than Janna remembered the last time she had seen him.

"Greetings, Goblin world inhabitants," the figure of Ludo said, "Now is the hour of devastation. Witness the power of the long sleeping Queen Eclipsa and despair."

With that, he lifted his jeweled hand, producing a burst of green light from it, and on the landing of the pyramid temple stood an army of fully bandaged mummies. As cool as this looked to Janna, she and Jackie both knew they had to run. The hooded figured hurried tumultuously into the pyramid entrance and disappeared, leaving the mummies to step down and lumber and surprisingly good speed towards the patrons.

Janna quickly turned around and fired a quick burst of lightning at one of the mummies, and upon striking the creature, it immediately disintegrated into dust.

"They're not so tough!" Janna shouted, firing another burst or two at two more of the undead hoard, turning them to dust as well. As they got closer, however, one of them made a swipe at Jackie, knocking her to ground. The touch of this creature burned for some reason, and she felt this strange sort of inner oppression, as if her soul were somehow damaged as well.

"Yeah," Jackie said, willing herself to stand back up, "but don't underestimate them." She then mustered more willpower, picked up her skateboard, and wacked her undead assailant in the head with it, reducing it to another pile of dust and bandages. The girls continued to run, passing Selene as they did, who had her wand at the ready.

"Desert wind blast!" Selene yelled, and with that a massive wind picked up from the center of the wand and blew what amounted to a large dune of sand over the frontline of mummies while pushing back others. Still, it was not enough to stop the hoard from continuing forward. "Huh. Thought that would have been a bit more powerful." With that, she ran after Janna and Jackie towards the rest of the group.

Soon, the line patrons noticed the massive wave of living dead monstrosities and began running away. Roy, who had served his most recent customer from the side of the truck, also noticed them, closed the side of the truck, and sped off into the desert, ignoring the rest of his customers. Thankfully, Tom, Sol, Kelly, and Pony Head noticed their friends running their direction and saw the massive hoard as well. They each jumped into action, prepared to defend any of the humanoid customers there. Of course, some of the patrons were prepared to fight as well, drawing their various weapons or magical items and preparing them for attack. In a matter of seconds, the hoard was upon them, and the battle commenced.

Tom launched fire from his hand, disintegrating a few more. Kelly swung her sword in a wide arc, and each of the mummies it touched poofed into dust and bandages. Pony Head rammed a few more, causing them to likewise explode into dust. Sol readied a laser whip from his wrist and cracked it at several more of the undead, vaporizing them into nothingness.

Out of nowhere, more portals began opening, releasing even more of the mummies. Throughout the fray, the growing hoard separated the group, Jackie, Selene, and Sol on one side of it, and the rest of the group on the other.

"There are just too many," Selene shouted, "We have to get out of here."

"You all go on," Tom yelled, "We got this!"

"We'll get these people to safety," Kelly exclaimed at Jackie's group, "You just jump through the next portal."

Selene grabbed Jackie and Sol, both of which had some hesitation and ran through the next available portal as a mass of undead, bandaged hands reached for them. Upon proceeding through the portal, Jackie fell face first into a head of blonde hair, possibly wearing a red headband. She fell on her butt and began rubbing her head from the pain. Just then, she heard a familiar voice.

"Ow," the person said, "A head injury is not what you want to be greeted with when traveling through dimensions." Jackie looked up to see Star and Marco standing in front of her, a look of shock on both of their faces.

"Star, Marco..." Jackie managed to mutter, but looking at them after all she had gone through, a huge weight formed in her stomach. Selene and Sol were right behind her and were feeling the same growing dread.


	15. Disclosure at the Waters of Oblivion

"This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full and descend. A horse is white of the eyes and dark within." — The Woodsman, "Twin Peaks: The Return"

"Sleepless night/Holding on to the fear/Trying to get free from self doubt/The truth is a hard thing to hear." — Dana Jean Phoenix, "Don't Let Go"

"Jackie!" Marco and Star blurted out together before Marco continued, "How did you get here? I thought you were staying back on Earth."

"And who are these two amazing looking strangers?" Star asked, equally dumbfounded while standing to her feet.

"Very long story," Jackie said while pulling herself up likewise, "a lot of it involving gremlins, krakens, and mummies. Janna and Tom were with us, but we got separated when the mummies swarmed us."

"Wait, mummies?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, it was...odd," Jackie responded, "But I thought you two were back on Mewni, trying to figure out what's going on there."

"We had a lead on where Toffee was," Star began, but paused for a moment before continuing, "He's kinda my family's arch nemesis. But then we had to fight this giant multi-eyed lizard who could turn into mist on occasion, then we ran into that Hungry Larry guy again…"

"And then I guess Pac-Man ate him," Marco interjected.

"Pac-Man?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it was...also weird," Star answered.

"But, you both," Marco followed up, addressing Selene and Sol, who were both seemingly shying away and backing up from the group, "You two look ridiculously familiar."

"Yeah, aren't you the two jump-suited figures who had been following us those months ago?" Star asked, "Good to know you both actually have faces and aren't robots or badly scarred or whatnot."

"Never mind us," Selene said, "Shouldn't you be more focused on where we are?" She moved her arm and gestured to their surroundings.

The group found themselves on a large rock at the center edge of what looked like a vast waterfall. The waters around them flowed and crashed with a loud rush but thankfully not deafening to the point where they couldn't speak with each other. In the distance was what looked like a vast, mountainous crag, one that looked like it would potentially overtake the sky itself. Above and between the crag crashed billowing black smoke and continuously erupting fire and brimstone. The sky had an orangish red quality to it, littered with pink and black clouds scattered here and there. Above them floated various odd spectral objects: A cat sitting in a boat with a fishing rod, A purple sausage link that was cut in a certain spot in which the slit seemed to be singing "The Barber of Seville," a copier that kept producing flights of ducks from its scanning screen, a book with what looked like the effigy of a blue pine tree and the number four on its cover, and last but not least, Marco's bike for some reason.

"Yeah, there's that," Star muttered, fully bewildered.

"Dude," Jackie chimed in, "I'd love to go swimming or surfing through here if I didn't think I'd either die or lose my soul somehow."

"Where are we exactly?" Marco asked.

"What did you call this place, Selene?" Sol also asked, "Something-Chaos?"

"This is the realm of Metachaos," Selene replied, "I'm sure Omnitraxis Prime explained the idea of the multiverse. Well, this is where all that collides. It exists as the culmination of all possibilities that do not align within the realms, realities that the multiverse would not accept. All paradoxical residue flows here before it finds its way downstream through where we are now, the Waters of Oblivion." Selene pointed again to show where the water below them would flow. They looked off in the distance to see the massive river was now flowing into yet another crag filled with billowing smoke and fiery red brimstone, the sound of an immense eruption echoing through the air.

Just then, the bike floated through the air next to Marco. Its handles seemed to face him with some bizarre intent, like it could race towards him at any time, yet still it hovered through the hot, stifling air. Suddenly, there came a voice from the bike, a deep resonating one similar to that of James Earl Jones or Kevin Michael Richardson.

"Ich…amor…kimi wa!" the bike said.

"What?" Marco instinctively asked.

"Ja…gra…otcha!" the bike insisted, some frustration in its tone.

"I caught the amor part the first time," Marco replied, "You love…something?"

The bike gave up, thought it had this sad kind of look as it drifted away from Marco. Selene felt sorry for it, remembering all the times her dad would spend on that bike in the garage tuning up, replacing the tires, and giving it a new coat of paint.

Marco turned his attention back to the two strangers, who seemed to both be rather knowledgeable about these weird realms.

"This is all pretty surreal," Marco followed up, "like most of the things in my life, but I will say that the weirdest part is you guys. You two look so very similar to me and Star, and I'd like to know why."

Both Selene and Sol's faces turned red. They looked at each other, neither really knowing what to say. Thankfully, Jackie caught on fairly quickly, grabbed Star by the hand, and interrupted the silence before things became more awkward.

"Hold that thought, Selene," Jackie said, "I need to talk to Star for a minute." She then dragged Star over to the other side of the cliff out of hearing range from the rest of the group. Star had two thoughts about this: one was that Jackie's behavior completely confused her, and the other was that the same Selene was very pretty. Didn't she hear once that it meant "moon?"

"Uhhh, what's going on?" Marco asked, as he saw them pause and look at each other, Jackie taking both of Star's hands into hers.

"I think Jackie's doing what she does best," Sol said, "be selfless."

"You talk like you know her personally," Marco replied.

Sol didn't answer.

No one could hear what Jackie and Star were saying, but it was clear they were trying to set some sort of peace, or at least Jackie was. It sounded like she raised her voice once, saying something like "Why didn't you say anything?" but it was hard to make out, but Star clearly responded with a whimpering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The two continued to talk through what sounded like sobbing on both their ends, leaving Marco, Selene, and Sol anxious as to what they were discussing. This seemed to go on for a good fifteen minutes, as weird objects continued to fly over their heads. Finally, it ended with both girls giving each other a very sincere, passionate hug, much to the relief of the onlookers.

Jackie walked back up to the group, holding Star's hand, who was still sobbing. She let go as soon as it seemed Star was okay and then looked over at Marco.

"Okay, Marco," Jackie said, taking a deep breath, "Your turn now."

She took Marco by the hand and led him over to the side of the cliff where she had taken Star previously. Star could only stand there and stare at them. Jackie took both of Marco's hands before looking him in the eye, a slight forlorn look on her face, before she dropped her head and let out another sigh.

"Marco, this isn't even remotely easy for me to say," Jackie began, "and I'm sorry that I have to. But I'm not sure that you and I are going to work as a couple." Marco almost interjected, but Jackie cut him off before he could. "And before you say anything, hear me out. You and Star are both fantastic, and you're two of the best friends I could ask for, but dude, if your lives aren't the most dangerous I've come across. Believe me, I'm a thrill seeker at heart, and I'm willing to help you guys in a scrape, but putting your life in danger twenty-four-seven against otherworldly things for which I can't even begin to comprehend, it's a bit much for me. You seem to be built for it, as does Star, and I really…let me emphasize, REALLY don't want to come between you two. You might have known me at a distance for longer, but you've known her personally for much longer, and as you know, she's crazy for you…in more ways than one." Marco bowed his head for a moment, not knowing what to say, but then Jackie spoke up again. "But now, the question is, do you like her in that way back? How do you really feel, Marco? Do you want to be with her?"

Marco looked down at the cliff on which they were standing. He thought for a moment about everything he had gone through, about how his year had begun, and how much of a role Star had played in that. He'd been uncomfortable around Jackie since the beginning, mostly due to his own feelings of inferiority, but not once did he feel insecure around Star, not once did he feel like he needed to prove how cool he was or act pretentious or suave around. He always felt like an equal around her because he saw her as a friend first. But wasn't that ultimately what he wanted? Someone he cherished as a friend and equal first, someone he could always enjoy hanging out with (no matter the circumstances), someone who was super cool, gorgeous, funny, considerate, and always had his best interest and happiness at heart?

He breathed in, and exhaled his response.

"Yes," his voice murmured, "Yes, I think I do…no, I know I do. I'm sorry, Jackie."

Jackie closed her eyes once more and began to smile.

"Good," she replied, her resolve finalized, "And don't be sorry; you can't help who you love. All I can say is know what you want and chase after it, no matter what anyone says. I just have two things I need to lay down. Two guidelines for this, okay?"

Marco nodded.

"First," Jackie continued, "Don't stop being my friend, and don't forget about me, okay? That goes for Star, too. If you guys stopped being my friend, things would get so dull, I'd…I don't know, throw myself off a cliff or something. And the other thing: if Star does anything to seriously hurt you…I whack her in the head with a skateboard. Deal?"

"Deal," Marco answered, laughing at Jackie's exaggeration. They both gave each other a tremendously strong hug before walking back to the group.

"So, everything's okay now," Star asked, wiping her eyes.

"Everything's okay now, Star," Jackie replied.

"Promise things won't be awkward?" Star pressed, her nervousness fading.

"Hey," Jackie answered, throwing out her arms, "The Jackie abides, dude. But now I gotta fill you both in about these two, since they're too awkward to know what to say." She was of course pointing to Selene and Sol. "Looks like we've got a little bit of time, so here's the long story of basically everything I've gone through in the past couple of days." She paused until she made sure she had Star and Marco's undivided attention. "Star, Marco, meet your future kids…and possibly my future kids-in-law."

With a look of shock on both of their faces, she continued her story of her dimension-hopping adventures with the future prince and princess of Mewni.

A half hour later, after Jackie finished her story with the occasional interjection from Sol, reminding everyone how awesome and fun everything was for him, silence pervaded the scene for several minutes. The air around them became thick with pure awkwardness. Even the weird creatures flying above them looked as if they were blushing and staring at them dumbfounded.

"I…I…I…" Marco stammered, struggling to make sense of what this implied.

"This has gotten a little weird," Star muttered, "and I know weird." She wouldn't say it, but internally, she was screaming with joy at the thought of getting her wish to spend the rest of her life with Marco.

"Now, seriously, I need to remind you, this isn't set in stone," Selene reminded them, "You still have a choice to branch off and create your own timeline. I'm just hoping we're not somehow screwing up our own by talking to you about this."

"Oh, I think they're okay with it," Jackie interjected, "Right guys?"

"Uh, sure, sure," Marco said.

"Oh, we're good," Star followed, "we've messed with the timeline before, but who are we to upset your history? But Jackie, do you have any idea who this mystery guy you're going to marry is?"

"No idea," Jackie replied, "but honestly, I don't want to yet. I just kinda want to go with the flow on this, find out my own goals, and discover a few more things about myself. Just where it goes from there. I'll meet him when I'm meant to meet him…provided we survive whatever is going on."

"Right," Selene said, "and that brings me to my next point. I believe this is where Toffee is, at least on another level of Metachaos. He's developed a god complex and wants to break down reality, only to reshape it in his own image, one entirely filled with monstrosities at the peak of their evolution."

"How do you know all this?" Marco asked.

"You all told us when we were young," Sol replied. The three kids breathed a sigh of relief, that if this reality were to play out correctly, they were meant to survive it. "But I'm not sure how much this all means, given where we are."

"There are two levels within Metachaos," Selene continued, "a structure within the disorder. One level deals with distraction and the other with creation. That's where Toffee is. A portal to that plane should be opening up very soon."

"Okay, I gotta tell them," Sol interjected, "I can't take it anymore."

"Sol, remember what the doctor said," Selene reminded him.

"No, enough is enough," Sol said, "I think we all better sit down for this one." He then pointed to three chairs behind them that had appeared from nowhere at all. For a moment, they wondered how they didn't notice them, assuming they were there the whole time. The kids proceeded to sit down, as did Selene and Sol on the chairs behind them.

The future royals paused for a moment before finally speaking.

"Dad, both moms, we love you all very much," Sol nervously stressed his words, "and we want you both to get better. After you three found that lost Necronomicon page…It hasn't been easy. The docs are saying we need to play out this scenario to its end in order to break whatever this fantasy is that you're in."

Marco began thinking about the recent nightmares he had been having, about being trapped in the asylums, and each time he pictured them, they were always different, him being there for some different reason or another. He wondered for a moment, if there there were multiple universes where all this was in his head. Jackie was wondering something similar, remembering what the kraken had said to her and how it had the voice of what sounded like a professional psychiatrist.

Star was just confused, but could that mean that she was the most far gone, had all this magic and dimensional travel been her delusion?

"And now I have to ask," Marco chimed in, "how much of this is real, and how much of this is in our heads?"

The royal time and space travelers looked at each other for a moment, a moment of joy growing in them, as they realized they were reaching them. Yet, they both knew they had to keep this up. Maybe it was actually working.

"What is reality?" Selene fired another question back to them, "How do you define that? Is it based on your own senses or the collective senses of those around you? Can you influence your own reality in thought-form, or do external scientific factors strictly govern it? In short, is reality all your five senses can perceive? Right now, we are at the Waters of Oblivion, getting ready to face Toffee at the Nexus of Creation, and all of this is very real to you. And now it's real to us as well. We have to see this through to the end, or this reality won't just be fractured; it's going to shatter."

Just then, multiple portals began appearing, lined up along the edge of the cliff. They conveniently each had a label above them as to where they would go. There was a green portal that read Earth, a red one that read Hekapoo Forge, a blue one that read LV-426, a black one that read Urborg, and finally, a white one that read Creation.

"And now, we need to follow through with it," Selene finished, "But Jackie, if you think you need to, you can go back to Earth. This ultimately isn't your fight, and it would be selfish of us to ask you to come with us." Jackie looked at the green portal and thought for a moment. Then, she looked back at the group.

"No," Jackie said, "I can't back out on you dudes now. We've come this far, so gotta finish what we started. I'm not gonna run out on my friends like that."

"Okay," Selene replied, "far be it for me to tell you what to do." The group stood and walked over to the white portal.

"This is it," Star stated with a firm resolve, "Time to face Toffee. If mom defeated him, so can we."

"Just no whispering spell this time, okay?" Marco asserted.

"Don't worry, Marco," Star said, "We've learned a few tricks over the past year. We've got this."

With that, Selene, Sol, and Jackie stepped through the portal. Star and Marco stayed back for a moment to give each other a look. After all that had passed over the week, what more could they say? All they did was give each other the warm, friendly smiles they always had. They reached out and held each other's hands, wondering what was coming next but happy they had each other. They then looked back at the portal and stepped through it.


	16. Battle in Metachaos

"Ocean pulls me close\And whispers in my ear\The destiny I've chose\All becoming clear\The currents have their say\The time is drawing near\Washes me away\Makes me disappear\And I descend from grace\In arms of undertow\I will take my place\In the great below." — Nine Inch Nails

Arriving at the other side, the group were not prepared to see the bizarre surrealist plane where they now stood. They appeared to be at the edge of some ruins, though the smooth, alabaster walls suggested it was still in good condition. The walls themselves seemed to be of a checkered design, the large square holes leading to some far grimier, jagged exterior none of them could discern. The floor seemed to also be made of some white marble with square patterns. What lay before them was a vast opening in the structure, which lead to what looked like floating stairs made of rainbow quartz. Beyond them lay a vast shimmering ocean, a rising sun on the horizon illuminating it in a nearly clear orange and blue sky, only slightly littered by peach colored clouds.

At the top of the stairs hovered the Toffee/Ludo hybrid, and behind him floated Queen Eclipsa, still encased in crystal.

"At last, you've arrived!" Toffee's voice shouted, the waves below him gently crashing at the edge of the ruin's shoreline roughly ten feet above the landing where the group stood, "I knew you would make it through the inter-dimensional gauntlet I had laid for you. Now, you will witness greatness as the multiverse changes before you."

"Save the pretentious, cliched monologue for someone who cares!" Star shouted back at him, running towards the floating stairs and taking a few steps up them. Marco ran behind her to try and pull her back but failed. "We're not here to chat about whatever 'grand scheme' you might have. We're here to fight!"

"You could no more fight me at this point than a single termite could destroy Mewni Castle," Toffee laughed, "So you may as well hear what I have to say. You can tell that imprudent mother of yours that I no longer have any desire to reclaim the finger she took from me. Physical matter no longer concerns me in regard to the new form I shall take upon amalgamating with Great Queen Eclipsa's power. And here…" He then pointed out over the waters behind him, "…in front of the very waters of creation where the life of the multiverse stems, I shall become the new Creator, forming new, more optimal lifeforms, and all shall be one in me."

"Delusions of grandeur!" Selene shouted, stepping forward to stand behind her mother's past self, "That's all this is. If all is one in you, then what shall you do after that? All will be in you and there will be nothing beyond it. There will be nothing more for you to gain or to lose once you have consumed and assimilated all life. It's a circular problem, with you being the ultimately meaningless center of it. For all your great ambition, it amounts to a nihilistic end!"

"Life and death are always in an endless loop, my dear," Toffee replied, "It has always been a meaningless, chaotic endeavor. I'm simply reaching the height of all ambition, true ultimate power, the influence of life and death at my fingertips, all from the combination of the magic from the many great Butterfly Queens of the past combined with the endowment from the Great Old Ones beyond this reality."

"Ah, quit with the babbling," Sol grumbled, producing a laser whip from his wrist portal, "Time to fight."

"I second that," Marco followed, raising his fists and getting into a fighting stance.

"I woke up this morning prepared to kick butt and skateboard," Jackie added, keeping her skateboard at the ready, "and we're a long way from the skate park."

"Very well," Toffee said and snapped his fingers. Within seconds, spinning iron cubes began to descend from the ceiling of the ruins. The cubes then landed around them and disintegrated, revealing their contents to be gigantic metallic mantis-like insects, all of which hissed and growled at the group of heroes. "These should tide you over while I make the final preparations." With that, he began drilling into the crystal with a laser from his hands while the metal bugs began their attack.

Jackie got a good hit on one of the creature's heads, though it only caused the creature to stagger for a few seconds before it lunged its sickle arms towards her again. Just before it hit her, Sol whipped the thing around its neck, if one could call it that, and wrangled it to the right, out of Jackie's way. Marco did a jumping spin kick, knocking one of the monsters back, though his foot hurt after hitting it. It was the same feeling if he had kicked a steel beam at a construction site. Selene blasted another with some strange colored narwhal effigy, causing it to fall off the side of the ruins and into the waves below.

Star continued her race up the stairs while her friends fought the insects below. She then fired a blast of energy towards Toffee, only to see that his hand blocked it as it moved away from its current task of drilling. The Toffee/Ludo thing turned its head towards her.

"You're trying my patience, girl," he spoke, his voice slightly irritated.

"Seems you're not as invincible as you thought," Star replied, "if I can make you stop what you're doing to block my magic." She then fired a few more blasts at the possessed Avarian, only to have the embedded wand piece block them.

"You're only delaying the inevitable, my dear," he chided her.

"Again, stop with the cliches," Star said, continuing to fire, "It's like you want to quote every megalomaniac villain from every bad movie ever made."

"If the cliches work," Toffee shrugged, returning fire with a green energy blast from his hand, "then why not? There's a reason they're used so much. In this case, you really are becoming a nuisance to my focus on the task at hand." The two returned fire at each other, a continual traded stream of pink and green energy, all the while, her friends continued to hold off the swarm of metal bugs from the boxes falling from the sky.

Eventually, as Star was halfway up the stairs, she saw some shift in the hybrid. His head twitched and eyes blinked for a moment before he shouted out in Ludo's voice once more.

"Help me!" Ludo yelled, a desperate plea as his arm still involuntarily fired green magic plasma, "I never wanted any of this! I wanted to rule a land of monsters, one that would return Mewni to its original state, but I never wanted to recreate the universe! This has gone too far! Please, please, free me from this monster."

Star didn't respond, but she clearly felt sorry for the small Avarian. He might have been one of her most annoying foes at one time, but he clearly needed help in his pathetic state. Looking at his wand hand, realizing that this was where the other half was, she knew what she had to do. She moved to the side, angling her wand just right, and fired green energy directly into the wand hand, knocking the star jewel piece from it.

Ludo groaned and fell to his knees at the top of the stairs. The star piece, however, hovered in the air and began to shake. Ludo picked himself up and ran down the steps to Star, putting himself behind her.

"What have you done?" Ludo asked with a great agitation.

"I saved you, like you wanted," Star snapped.

"You don't get it," Ludo shuddered, "That piece was the only thing keeping his form stable. He told me one night, though I thought it was a nightmare at the time, that if that jewel in my hand were to ever crack before he regained his form, he wouldn't be able to control the chaos energy he had absorbed. Something about the instability of that Bill Cipher monster thing he drained." Star saw dark aura begin to form from the star piece. "What's coming next, I was hoping never to see outside of that nightmare."

The aura around the jewel began to grow until it engulfed the upper half of the stairs, Queen Eclipsa's crystalline tomb. They were visible for only a brief moment before fully vanishing, as if looking out of a window at dusk until the sun went down. In fact, the morning sky that had looked so beautiful once now shifted into a dark gray, as if a storm were brewing across the entire world.

The metal bugs retreated, leaving Star's friends and future family to stare in ominous awe. Star ran down the stairs as the darkness consumed them, joining her friends at the marble landing. It was not long before the dark aura engulfed them all, leaving them in some strange pitch-black world.

Where were they now? They weren't sure they were anywhere. Star and Selene, however, made a glow spell from their wands, allowing to at least see each other. Ludo grabbed Star's leg, shaking with fear.

"It's coming…it's coming…" Ludo whispered nervously.

"What's coming?" Marco asked, equally unnerved.

"What's left of Toffee's soul…" Ludo answered, still short of breath, "Star, you need to find that shard. Make the wand whole again and repel his magic with yours…It has to work."

"Sure," Star said, not knowing how to respond, her mind beginning to reel at her situation, "…but where…"

"What's that?" Sol asked, pointing to something distant while squinting through the darkness. It looked to be some large lizard, similar enough to Toffee, but it's bluish head seemed to contort and twitch. It came more into view and began to softly glow a bright blue.

"There's another one!" Jackie shoulted, pointing out another similar Toffee-like head floating through the darkness towards them.

"They're everywhere," Marco chimed, seeing them approach from out of the dark.

"I…I'm so sad…Star…" Toffee's distorted voice echoed through the air, "Star…Star Star Star Star Star Star Star Star…"

Just then, directly above them came the gargantuan, hideously distorted face that once belonged to Toffee. Gazing upon it, the party's mind convulsed and could not seem to grasp the true form of it, though all they could understand was that it looked enough like Toffee for them to know who it once was. Beyond that it was a swirling mass of insanity, pain, and chaos none of them could fully comprehend, each of them feeling as if they would go mad if they stared at it for too long.

"I feeeeeeel gooooooood, Star!" the Toffee entity roared.

Star could only think to do one thing: fire her greatest spell.

"SPIDER WITH A TOP HAT BLAST!" she yelled, aiming her wand towards the cosmic monstrosity, releasing the tiny spider who then launched his massive gatling gun of magic energy towards the entity…only to have each of the magical blasts absorbed by the darkness before the tiny spider disappeared.

"Now what?" Sol asked.

"We search for the shard," Selene resolved, shaking her head and trying to come back to her senses. The group then scrambled to find it through the darkness, brushing past the distorted images of Toffee surrounding them.

"You cannot grasp the true form of my attack!" the Toffee entity shouted, its voice echoing throughout, and with that, multiple tentacle-like beams, the same sickly blue color as the faces, fired at each of the group there assembled. Thankfully, each was able to dodge the attack, though even being close to the beams caused them to feel somewhat ill to their stomachs, like some nervous pain deeply rooted in their abdomens, the same feeling one would have of knowing they should not be there or some impending fate pressing upon them.

"I don't think we can keep this up with attacks like that!" Sol shouted, "Keep searching!"

"Spread out and cover what 'ground' you can!" Selene yelled back to the group.

Star continued her search but she wasn't sure where to look. Besides the floating Toffee faces all she could see was darkness. Suddenly, she spotted a green shimmer among the faces and ran for it.

"Guys, I think I found the thing!" Star yelped, still trying to overcome her fear of this place.

"You did?" Marco asked and ran towards her.

"It huuurts…Staaaaar! It's…not…riiiight! " the Toffee entity bellowed out, "You cannot grasp the true form of my attack!" Another beam fired directly above Star's head. She looked up to see it but was not quick enough to dart out of its way, all of it hitting her right in the face. There was a heavy burning sensation and a quick flash, causing Star to drop to her knees. She rubbed her eyes, but when she opened them, the world was even more of a blur than it already was. She could still sort of make out the green floating star piece but she wasn't sure. She stood and reached out for it, but felt nothing but air. She grasped for it again but felt nothing. It wasn't clear how far away this was, and her new blurred vision wasn't helping in the slightest.

What was even worse was the sinking feeling in her spirit, as if the world was falling away, and any semblance of hope began to fade.

"I've got it, Star!" Marco yelled and leapt forward the star piece, grabbing it like some video game character Star could but barely remember at the moment. When she looked at him, he was the only one she could see clearly, a warm light shining from him like that of the sun. Marco was her grounding rock for sight, and looking upon him gave her a renewed sense of hope, a light in the darkness, a warmth in which she wanted to enwrap herself. "There, now we're one step closer to…"

Another bolt rained down from the entity, hitting Marco straight through the chest. He fell to the ground, and the warm light faded from him.

"No!" Star shouted and ran to him, kneeling down and holding him in her arms, "Marco, please say you're okay!" She looked him over, but her eyesight couldn't distinguish his injuries, thought it looked as though something had burned his chest, his hoodie now in tatters in that area. Part of Star was thankful for the blot on her sight that she didn't have to see the extent of it.

She thought of crying for help, but when she looked around her, she couldn't see the others. Selene and Sol had vanished completely, and someone was lying on the ground. She thought it might have been Jackie, as the figure seemed to have her hair, but she wasn't sure. And as the lying figure in the distance began to sink into the floor and out of sight into nothingness, so did her hope once more.

"I'm soooo…saaaaad…Star!" The Toffee entity's voice echoed through the darkness.

"Star…" Marco moaned. He was still alive after all. "Take it…You have to finish this…" Star stammered but couldn't form any real words. Still, she took the piece from Marco's shivering hand and placed it into her wand.

The wand began to glow with a bright light similar to the one she saw from Marco. Finally whole again, it began to transform before her eyes. The wings changed, horns resembling her headband grew from the top, and the star turned a bright golden color. Upon grabbing it, she could feel the light enwrap her, warmth and hope in equal parts surrounding her. Something within her began to change as well, something independent from the wand's power. She felt herself dipping down as all the anger, sadness, joy, and love she felt for Marco and her friends began to well up. The wings from her back unfurled, and her extra arms sprouted from her dress.

Star flew into the air with the wand in hand towards Toffee's hideous face, yet she felt no more fear. In the greater scheme of the universe, he was no more powerful than any other creature she or her ancestors had faced, and she would rid the multiverse of his evil forever.

She fired a massive solar beam from her wand towards him, and once they collided, there was yet another bright flash, brighter than any sun across any world she had seen. It blew her back to the ground next to Marco and washed the world around them in its pristine glow. The feeling she had, though, was like none other she had; it was a calming joy and rapture, one that she never knew she could ever feel, and she was almost always happy. But this…this was something beyond her comprehension. Was there something in this light that was smiling on her? She couldn't tell, but her mind reeled once more, and she could feel herself drifting off into this stream of light.

Star blinked and found herself somewhere else once more. The first sensation she felt was a blast of freezing air all around her. Her vision was no longer blurred, as she saw clearly that all around her was a blanket of thick snow and ice. There was a small drizzle of snow falling from the sky. She looked down to see Marco was still there with her, the wound in his chest now gone.

"Marco?" she asked, "Marco, can you hear me?" She patted his face with her hand, but he wasn't stirring. She leaned in and could tell he was breathing but barely.

Finally, Marco began to moan and grip his chest, as if the wound was still there, though neither of them could see it. Star acted fast, though, and used her wand to give them both winter jackets. She beamed into existence a small sled on which she placed Marco after dragging him to it.

"Don't worry, Marco," she said, "You're going to be okay. I'll take care of you…no matter where we go or what we do, I'll always take care of you." She then dragged the sled behind her, though she wasn't sure where she was heading. And on she trudged, through the icy tundra, not knowing how she got there or where exactly she was going. Hopefully, she would find a cave where they could seek shelter. That's all they had now, but she vowed not to let it fade from her again.

 **Two more chapters to go: to be concluded in "Icy Kiss Goodnight" and "New Homes"**


	17. Icy Kiss Goodnight

"Before you slip into unconsciousness\I'd like to have another kiss\Another flashing chance at bliss\Another kiss, another kiss\The days are bright and filled with pain\Enclose me in your gentle rain\The time you ran was too insane\We'll meet again, we'll meet again." — The Doors, "Crystal Ship"

It had only been an hour, but it felt like an eternity. Star had been trudging across the icy planes of wherever they were, dragging Marco behind her. Thankfully, the storm had cleared, allowing her to at least see the outlines of the mountains. She looked back at Marco, who was still clutching his chest; he had stopped his stirring, leaving Star to question if he were getting better or just losing energy. Her worry crept back in, but still she marched.

"It won't be long, Marco," Star said, "We'll find shelter. I promise."

Above them, the stars shown so brightly. Without the crowding of street lights, they could clearly see what the Milky Way had in store for them to view in all its glory. There were more stars than Star had even seen in the night sky of Mewni, or so it seemed at the time. Just then, she began to see bright, rainbow streams of light dance across the sky before disappearing and starting again.

"Marco, look," Star muttered after stopping and rushing over to him, "It's so beautiful. What is it?"

"That's…the aurora," Marco managed to groan, "You typically see it in colder climates on Earth…And yes, it is beautiful." Star continued to watch the lights dance, but Marco wasn't looking at them; he was instead looking at Star and the look of awe and wonderment on her face. "Very beautiful…Star, I…"

"Marco, don't talk too much," Star scolded him as she looked back down at him and tapped him on the mouth with her fingers, "You need to save your strength. I'm not letting you die out here." And she proceeded to drag him on the sled through the snow once more.

Given her new ability to see the mountain ranges, Star headed in their direction, hoping to find a cave. Sure enough, they found a small cave hollowed out in the side of one of one of the crystalline hillsides. She pulled Marco through the opening and found a small, stable landing just within the cavern. Star then propped Marco up on the wall so that he could sit, she then waved her wand and made a small bonfire. For a moment, she looked through the rest of the cave, which at the far end, the ground terminated into a vast black pit. In the center of the pit, Star could just make out a large pillar of ice with something inside of it thanks to the firelight, though she couldn't tell what might be inside of the icy coffin. She wouldn't let it bother her, as she had to focus on Marco.

"There," Star chirped, "That oughta keep us warm." She looked back over at Marco, still holding his chest, but his his grip was loosening, and his eyes began to droop. "No, no, no, Marco. Stay awake. You gotta stay awake."

"Star, I don't think I've got much strength left," Marco moaned, "Whatever Toffee hit me with…I can still feel it eating away at me. Not just physically…I just…I don't know if there's any hope left for us."

"Don't talk like that, Marco," Star began to cry, "No, we're getting through this together. We're going to go back to Echo Creek, to school, to your parents and friends, just as we always have. Things will go back to the way they were, when we were happy and going on adventures, the way we always have."

"Star…you know things can't go back to the way they were…" Marco muttered, "But that's not a bad thing…" Star looked at him with some inquisitiveness. "I know how you feel about me now…Is that still true?"

"Yes, Marco," Star spoke softly, "I…I can't imagine my life without you in it."

"You're strong, Star," Marco continued, "You'll be a fantastic queen one day, even without me."

"Yes, I know I can and I will," Star cried even harder, "but I don't want to lose you like this. We've come so far together across so many different lands and dimensions. I want you with me forever, Marco…I…I love you…I always will."

"I love you, too, Star," Marco moaned again before coughing, "But…If this is our last moment together, I want to kiss you…"

Star didn't waste any time. She crawled over to him and lifted his chin with her hand to look into his tired eyes.

"I'll kiss you," Star began, quickly trying to wipe the tears from her eyes, "but you gotta promise me something first, okay, you adorable over-dramatic idiot?" Marco managed to nod; he would have agreed to anything at this point as he drifted in and out of consciousness. "You've got to keep going, okay? No quitting right now. We didn't give up our happy lives just so you could give up. No, we're going home together, and I need you to believe it, too. Got it, Diaz?"

He nodded slowly again.

The two closed their eyes as Star leaned into Marco. Their lips met, a surge of cold rushing through both of them. Their lips were like touching an icicle, but they didn't care. Soon, they felt the warmth from within each other as it surged between them. This is where they were meant to be. A warm bubble in the middle of a frozen world.

After several minutes, Star broke the embrace.

"I was worried I'd never get to feel that," Star said, a smile creeping across her face, eyes still closed.

"Same here," Marco responded.

"But now," Star proceeded, "You need your rest, Earth boy. Tomorrow, we're going home." Marco didn't believe her but he wasn't about to break his best friend's…no, his new girlfriend's heart any further.

"Goodnight, Star," Marco finally sighed before shutting his eyes and letting the world go black around him. Star sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him while resting his tired on her chest. She watched the fire for a few minutes before she felt here eyelids begin to get heavy as well.

She then found herself sitting in a chair in some dark room.

There was a very tall man sitting in an identical armchair across from her. The balding man must have been at least seven or eight feet tall, a giant among humans. What stood out to Star was the man's bow tie, immediately making her think of Principal Skeeves.

"I am…the Fireman," the giant said in a voice that sounded as thought he were being played on a backwards recording.

Star didn't know what to say. She just sat there and watched the man stare back at her.

"You need…to look…up there…" the Fireman continued, still in a backwards sounding voice, pointing upwards.

Star was petrified. She was afraid of what she would find if she did, nor did she understand this strange man's intentions.

"What will I find if I do?" Star asked, a little surprised that her own voice sounded perfectly normal.

"You need to see something…that came before…" The Fireman answered, "Queen Eclipsa…is returning…"

"Will there be any warning when she does?" Star asked, knowing it was a bit of an odd question.

"You will know…when the robins depart…" The man responded once more, still pointing upwards.

Star finally complied with the man and tilted her head upwards. She saw what looked like a bright oval skylight, but the more she concentrated on it, the more it seemed like it was pulling her into it. But she couldn't look away; some strange instinct would not let her move her head or turn her gaze to anything else but this. Eventually, she saw something change in the skylight; it began to show images. The first image came slowly and with some barely audible chanting sound. Eventually, the bright haze gave way to the image of her standing next to a woman with spades on her cheeks and sickly green hair. The woman was chatting with her, answering some important question she had about controlling Glossaryk.

The chants grew louder and louder, eventually allowing Star to hear their hideous import of their words.

"Ia! Ia! Eclipsa fhtagn!" a multitude of unseen cultists shouted. All the while, the images Star was watching seemed to zoom into the woman's face with each shout, each one an invocation to grow closer. Eventually, the woman stopped looking at the Star in the images and looked directly at Star herself, sitting in the Fireman's chair, and smiled with an unsettling grin. What made it even worse was that her eyes were now purely jet black, soulless, dead, like those of a spider's.

The images changed, but the chanting went on and on. She then saw something only slightly familiar. It looked like something she had seen in one of her history textbooks from Earth. It was some sort of desert landscape with a massive pyramid. Star felt as though she were floating above it. In front of the Pyramid was a long walkway, lined with massive pillars that were covered in hieroglyphics Star could not read.

The chanting also seemed to change, though it was something she couldn't understand once more.

"Ia! Nyarlathotep!"

The ones chanting it were thin people in white robes, all bowing before some man in a strange headdress. Pharaohs…is that what they called them on Earth? She felt herself drifting closer to the multitude, seeing the limbs of this pharaoh's disciples were all wrapped in bandages. Were all of them mummies? She flew closer to the pharaoh, who had his arms raised above his head in triumph.

A hideous cackling echoed from the pharaoh's throat as Star looked at the man's eyes. They were glowing yellow with a long black slit for a pupil. As he continued his maniacal laughter, Star felt an overpowering sense of dread and anxiety, much more than she had felt when looking at Toffee's corrupted spirit. She knew that nothing good could come from this man or anything he would bring to this land.

Two names flashed across her mind: the chanted name from the cultists, Nyarlathotep, and another name Ludo had mentioned, Bill Cipher. Could they have been one and the same?

She drew closer and closer to the monstrous humanoid's face until all of a sudden, she was once again bathed in a soft white light, and all the sounds and chanting disappeared. She felt a calmness, peace, bliss. She had no idea where this power came from or what it wanted, but it was clearly there to help her and keep her safe. She knew then that there was some force greater than magic, greater than the multiverse, and greater than all these eldritch abominations and cosmic horrors she had faced over the past few weeks.

She allowed the light to wash over her and entered it freely.

"Are we at the place?" Star heard a familiar voice shout. She blinked her eyes and saw the glow of the morning sun illuminate the ice of the cave. Was this a dream?

"Yeah, the computer doesn't lie," another familiar voice shouted, "I detected another energy rift somewhere around this area. I am so happy that crazy old Pines man made this freeware. So many creepy paranormal things I could find with this."

"Well, let's hurry up," a third familiar voice complained, "This place is waaaay too cold for my taste."

"Well, yeah, you're used to the heat," the first voice said again, "Not too different from when my uncle took me snow boarding last time. Though, I really wish I could skate on this stuff; save us a lot of time."

As the voices neared the cave entrance, Star recognized the most recent speaker as Jackie. The one talking about paranormal things was Janna, and the one doing the most griping was Tom.

"And when is the sun going to rise?" Tom asked, fully agitated, "We've been walking for hours, and it's barely risen over the horizon. At least give us some warmth here, you cowardly yellow ball of awfulness!"

"We're on the butt end of Earth in June," Janna said, "I doubt we'll be seeing much sun with the way the sun's rotated right now, but hey, we'll be getting plenty of that back in Cali."

"I've said it before," Jackie chimed in, "but Venice Beach is a great place to get some rays if you're so caught up on the heat thing. At least thinking about it is giving me some good vibes as I march out here."

"Eh, I'll be back down to the underworld in no time," Tom groaned, "Then I won't have to worry about it."

"Guys wait," Janna stopped the banter, "I think I found something…Star, is that you?" Star could see the three figures standing at the opening of the cave. She could indeed tell it was her friends and rose to her feet, moving Marco's limp body to the side. Tom and Janna were wearing very thick coats. For a brief moment, she thought Jackie was wearing a Rose Madder-colored summer dress and wondered if she was cold. Star shook her head, and the vision faded; Jackie was wearing a teal colored heavy coat similar to her friends.

"YAY! You're all here!" Star ran to them, "And alive no less!"

"And we're glad you are too," Jackie said, and the four of them hugged, "Where's Marco?"

"He's in here…" Star answered, turning back to the cave. Marco was slumped over, now lying on the floor next to the wall. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. You promised me, Marco, that you wouldn't die. I'm not letting you welch on that." Star ran to Marco's side, and Jackie was quick to follow behind her. Star propped Marco up on the wall. He didn't seem to be showing any sign of life, no stirring, no moans, and no breathing.

It was the moment Star told herself wouldn't happen but perhaps in the back of her mind knew was coming. There seemed to be a heaviness growing in the pit of her stomach and a strong ache in her heart. Her mind began to rattle, and the world began to turn red around her.

"Marco, please," Star cried, tears streaking down her cheeks, "Don't leave me like this…" Jackie likewise began to cry, both at Marco's state and feeling empathy with Star.

"Marco, dude…" Jackie uttered, "don't you know you need to say goodbye before you leave?" And the girls hugged each other and continued to cry. Star looked over at Janna who had buried her face in Tom's chest, who held her close as she wept. She didn't think she had it in her to cry at anything, so this was a surprise.

Then came the voice.

"…Star?" it was Marco's voice asking for her.

Both Star and Jackie broke their hug and looked at Marco, his blue face beginning to show some life again. He went into a coughing fit, but that didn't stop Star or Jackie from breaking their own hug and tackling the near frozen boy. Janna and Tom both rushed over the join the dog pile that was Marco's massive hug. He had trouble focusing from the weight and pain on his chest. Still, he managed to look up at them and smile.

"Hi," he said nonchalantly.

"Hi," his friends said back to him in unison.

They all finally let him up, and the group began exchanging pleasantries, despite being extremely cold in the middle of the cave. Everyone was back together, all able to trade stories about what happened.

"So Ludo's a natural skateboarder now?" Star asked.

"Yeah," Jackie answered with some enthusiasm, "after the little dude landed with me in the middle of the Echo Creek skate park, watching us kind of helped him calm down after…everything we saw. He then asked if he could try and did surprisingly well for his first outing."

"Ludo on a skateboard," Star laughed, "That I gotta see."

Star looked over and saw Janna and Tom investigating the vast abyss at the far end of the cave but paid it little mind. She wondered if Janna's paranormal app thingy was picking up anything down there.

"So does anyone know what happened to Selene and Sol?" Marco asked. He wondered if what they said was true, that they were indeed his and Star's children having grown, traveling through time to fix the broken shards of a fractured reality. It all seemed convoluted and nonsensical when they explained it to him in that weird oblivion realm.

"Gone back to their own time," Jackie replied, "We can only hope anyways…I especially hope they did, as Selene apparently had an important date with my future son."

"Son?" Marco asked, "So…I guess that's why you were okay with me and Star…"

Jackie winked at him.

"Just a small glimpse of the future," she said with a smug smile.

"Guys, check this out!" Janna shouted excitedly, peering into the abyss.

"You know, being from the underworld," Tom began, "I've seen a lot of crazy things, even by Mewni's standards, but I didn't expect to find something like this anywhere close to Earth."

Star, Marco, and Jackie rushed over to join them. In what little daylight streamed in from the cave entrance, the outline and aspect of the thing within the ice was now visible. It appeared to be a gargantuan humanoid infant, complete with pristine white diaper. The only odd thing about it was the angular hourglass symbol on its forehead.

"Aww," Star swooned, "What a cute little giant."

"I'm not sure this is an ordinary giant," Marco responded.

"What do you think it could be?" Jackie asked.

"Alright, you know what guys?" Tom interjected, "With all my complaining, I'm being serious here. I'm kind of mysteried-out. It's probably time we just head home and get some rest after all this crap."

"Aww, but this could be the supernatural find of the century!" Janna groaned.

"Well, how bout this," Tom responded, "Would you like to see my place in the underworld? I promise I'll make it as safe for you as possible."

Janna's tone shifted immediately.

"Oh, would I?" she asked rhetorically, throwing her arms around Tom's neck, "Take me there right now, Hellboy."

"I'm actually inclined to agree," Jackie said, "Time to get back to Echo Creek and catch up on some skating. There's a big competition coming up that I think I might sign up for now that my calendar is a little more free. What do you say, guys, ready to head back?"

"Yeah," Star said, looking over at Marco and grabbing him by the hand. The two exchanged a warm smile, knowing that everything was going to be alright after all. "Let's go home."


	18. New Homes & Epilogue

"The stars are mute/The moon without pity/As waves of blood roll over the city/It's not a rehearsal or special effects/It's the end of the story/It's what happens next/…I saw a chapel made of gold/The light was so blue, and the air was so cold/Terrible sound on a microphone/As the rats kept rhythm on chicken bones." — PM Dawn, "If You Never Say Goodbye"

10 Years Later… December, 2025

Winter had come again on Mewni. It was the type of day that, while the cold was biting one's nose and making it run to win the race, they wouldn't care. The day was just too gorgeous as the bright blue sky hung overhead and the sun shown down to cause the thick blankets of white snow to gleam its light across the Butterfly castle. Thankfully, the groundskeepers as well as several knights and soldiers had been deputized to clear the roads for this day, as many people were marched in for the royal wedding. In the people came as they gazed upon the bright blue and green trappings that covered the walls and ceiling, the colors representing a union between Mewni and Earthrealm. Beautiful rays of colored light streamed down through the stained glass windows. The smell of lavender filled the air as white rose petals drifted through the air from the breeze through the front door.

None of that mattered to Star or Marco, not the crowd watching them, the beautiful scenery, or Angie and River's sobbing. The only thing that mattered to them was each other as they gazed into each other's gorgeous eyes. The only thing they could hear was Moon's oration.

"Prince Marco of the Empty Hand," Moon continued, "do you take Princess Star to be your wife, to have, hold, and rule beside, so long as you both shall live?"

"I do, your majesty," he answered, his smile not leaving his face and his eyes not leaving Star's.

"And do you, Star Buttterf…" Moon began saying before…

"I do, mom!" Star screeched out excitedly, "Er I mean, I do, your majesty."

"Then, by the kingdom," Moon continued, "by the queens who came before us, I now pronounce you man and wife." Marco finally had the freedom to let go his inhibitions, grab Star, dip her down and kiss her. Star could swear she felt lightning through her at the shock of this. When the two returned to their feet, Moon stepped between them. "Citizens, I present to you the new king and queen of Mewni! Long may they reign!"

The newlyweds then ran down the red carpet of the courtroom towards the open door, ready to greet the world as husband and wife and continue their adventure together for the rest of their lives. All the citizens and invited friends, including Tom, Janna, Ponyhead, Kelly, and of course Jackie, all clapped for them in jovial glee as they escaped the room heading for their warnicorn-drawn carriage to the reception.

The reception hall was loud but joyful. Traditional music of Mewni filled the air, as everyone ate, drank, and danced. Finally, Jackie tapped her fork on her glass to get everyone's attention. They all knew it was time for the toast.

"Hi everyone," Jackie began as all were quiet, "I've been close friends with these two for a very long time now, and they asked me to give the toast for them after much deliberation. You know, there are some things that are hard to believe. I'm a history teacher, and my students have a hard time believing I'm also a pro skateboarder on the side. Before Star Butterfly came to visit Earth, I would have had a hard time believing in magic as powerful as hers or anything beyond the natural world or the energies of the Earth itself." Jackie paused for a moment, as it seemed she was having a hard time saying what she was about to say. She sighed but smiled again. "But what was easiest to believe right from the beginning, something really no one should have overlooked, was how much these two have cared for one another. I've gotta be honest, that I'm envious of that kind of love. But the three of us had a bizarre glimpse of the future years ago, and I believe all will work out for each of us in the many years to come. So, Star, Marco, best wishes to you. Hail to the new queen and king. Long may you reign, dudes." Jackie raised her glass, keeping her sincere smile.

"Hail!" the multitude shouted in response and held their glasses aloft.

Shortly afterwards, Star was speaking with Tom and Janna regarding their own wedding they were planning; they said they were thinking about having it in one of the biggest paranormal hotspots on Earth — some town in Oregon. Jackie then mentioned something about a particular guy she was seeing, but seemed hesitant to tell Star about him. Marco watched her as she socialized with them, as well as all the people rushing to congratulate her. He watched her laugh at their jokes and make playful banter with them, and all he could think was how wonderful she was, and it warmed him even further knowing this was the woman with whom he would spend the rest of his days. She then looked over at him and gave him that same warm familiar smile she always had and blew him a kiss.

"Hey, flesh-wad," Heckapoo said from behind him, tapping him on the shoulder and causing him to turn around, "Congrats to you and Star. After all you two have been through, you both had this coming."

"We've had our ups and downs through the years," Marco responded, "But it seems we've always been destined to come back to one another. She means the world to me; no matter how much craziness she gets me into, I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"I can imagine," Heckapoo answered, "and as a wedding present to you…I'm giving you co-ownership of my scissors forge."

"What?" Marco stammered, "Why?"

"I did some thinking over the past couple of years," she replied, "and I think if we could at least have some of the Mewni guard over it, we might not have a repeat of what happened when Toffee put that curse on it and caused those random dimensional tears to open across the various planes of existence."

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all," Marco agreed, "I'm actually honored that you're granting me this. We'll make sure to take good care of it."

"You better, little boy," Heckapoo jokingly chided walking past him, only to shortly afterwards slap the back of his head, "You know I'm still going to do that to you even while you're king, right?"

"I would expect no less," Marco answered, and with that, Heckapoo joined the rest of the crowd.

No sooner had she disappeared than Moon appeared before him from the rest of the reveling crowd.

"My dear son-in-law," Moon said, hugging him, "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks, your majesty," Marco replied.

"You can call me mom now if you like," Moon retorted, "I'm glad you and Star are enjoying yourselves this evening, but I'm afraid I have some news to share that can't wait."

"Fire away, new mom," Marco laughed, "I'm ready for anything."

"Our scouts to the north have discovered a new sect has formed in the Cult of Eclipsa. They're concerned that an attack could be eminent at any time."

"Then we'll be ready for them," Marco said, but there was a hesitation in his response. He began to think back on what he and Star had gone through in order to stop her. For a brief moment, his mind turned back to the dark world, the world that was the corrupted Toffee entity. He shook his head, trying to fight the memories that would truly drive him mad if he allowed his mind to fully recall them.

"We need an answer by tomorrow on the course of action," Moon reminded him, "Decide soon, and then you two may proceed with your honeymoon in peace…theoretically."

"I'll see what I can do," Marco replied.

"That's one of the great things about you, Marco," Moon beamed, "you're always vigilant and hard-working, no matter your situation, the perfect person to give my daughter's chaotic life some balance. But let me not worry you any further. You and Star should enjoy this night."

"Now, it's time for the bride and groom to dance together!" shouted some unseen announcer.

"Marco!" Star yelled, "Get your cute butt over here now!" she then pushed through the crowd, grabbed Marco, then dragged him to the dance floor. As Star and Marco assumed the dance position, the band began to play the "Blood Moon Waltz." Janna immediately looked up at Tom, putting a finger on his chest.

"Don't worry," Tom told her, "I'm not going to interrupt them this time. Not THAT much of a jerk."

The tune played on, and the two dancers felt as if they were alone, in their own world of light and love.

"Did you ever think we'd get this far?" Marco asked.

"I had some worry," Star answered, "But I'm glad we're finally here."

"Ready to rule the kingdom together?"

"I think I am," Star nodded, her voice confident, "And I think that time we spent apart after the battle with Toffee did help us focus on what we needed to do as individuals and all that. But I really didn't feel complete without you."

"Me neither," Marco asserted, "I thought about you every day I was in college. Every time I saw the moon turn red, I was worried you were in danger or sad or missing me."

"But now we don't have to miss each other any more," Star followed, and violently pulled him close to her at the rising crescendo in the music, "No more time apart!"

"Right," Marco agreed, "And all these new responsibilities, this new position we're in, it's all another adventure. And we've been through plenty of those. Ready to go on another adventure with me?"

"You know I am!" Star hummed, "I love you, Marco."

"I love you, too, Star," Marco replied, and the two dancers kissed as the song ended.

Later that night, as they approached the royal suite of the inn, Marco stopped Star at the door. He halted in his tracks, holding Star's hand as she opened the door and stepped through it but could proceed no more.

"What's wrong, Marco?" she asked.

"Your mom," Marco began, "She…"

"Ugh, Marco," Star groaned, "You're thinking about my mom right before we…?"

"Something she said tonight really disturbed me," Marco continued, "She said some scouts found a new cult devoted to Eclipsa and that they're planning some sort of attack on Mewni."

"Just a bunch of nuts worshipping another long dead nut," Star sighed, "We stopped her, you and I. And there's no way a bunch of crazed zealots are going to take down our kingdom. And if they attack, we'll be ready for them, like I've heard you say when you're trying to sound confident."

"It's just that," Marco followed, "I still have nightmares, you know?"

"About Toffee?"

"About what Toffee turned into," Marco proceeded, "about my spiritual chest wound, about Eclipsa, and about the nightmares I've told you about for the past few months. Just…that chanting won't stop. Ia, Ia, something…Cthulhu or whatever they call it. I'm sure Janna would know more about it than that."

"I'm having the same dreams, too," Star responded, "but that's all they are, just dreams. They can't hurt you. I think you and I both have some issues we're still fighting through."

"And even after all these years," Marco went on, "I've still got this nagging feeling like none of this is real, that my mind has made all of this up or this is my personal Heaven, and that I really died in that cave in Antarctica. Just…I don't know what's real anymore…Not to mention I keep thinking about to what Selene and Sol said about the doctors and the lost Necronomicon page we supposedly found when we were older…"

There was a moment of silence between them. Finally, Star broke the heaviness with her smile.

"My adorable Marco," she said, taking hold of his hand with both of hers, "I've known you for so long, and I don't think your tendency to overthink everything is going to change. Just know this…" She lifted his hand and placed it on her chest over her heart. He could feel it beat. "This is real. I'm here right now, standing at the threshold with you and ready to begin our new lives together. I know that I love you and that we have a fun honeymoon planned on Earth for the rest of the week."

"I…guess you're right, Star," he answered.

"Of course I am," she chimed, "Now, come on…" She then grabbed him by the bow tie, pulled him into the room, and closed the door.

Marco awoke in a cold sweat, his hair drenched and his muscles aching. Was any of that real? The cyclopean city upon whose highest steeple sat both Eclipsa and Great Cthulhu? No, that's all they were. Dreams. But was his marriage real or a dream? He looked down and saw Star's slender arm lying across his stomach. He looked over and found her asleep next to him.

"Marco…" Star moaned for a moment before going back to sleep.

He was able to catch his breath again, his heart resuming its normal pace. He smiled at his new bride, happy that she was finding such peace in her dreams. With that, he moved the sheets, got out of bed, and walked towards the balcony. The smooth stone that was just beyond the carpeted area was cool on his feet. The balcony doors thankfully made no din as he opened them and proceeded out into the night.

The new king looked out over the kingdom he was now set to rule. There were very few lights left on any of the windows in the tall, rustic houses and shops, and the streets were devoid of people. Above the houses and the colossal jagged mountains was the massive dark blue night sky, illuminated with countless stars and a fully glowing, bright white moon. He felt small in how vast everything was before him, but that meant everything else around him was equally as small. There was so much to explore across the realms, still so much he could do for Star and for others he would encounter throughout his life.

Whatever lay ahead, there was nothing he and Star could not face together. They had become stronger people on their own and together. And now, their unity was complete, the two hearts united at last.

This was their new home, and they would do their best to protect it.

He looked back at his wife, his queen, and he could not deny how beautiful she was. He continued to admire how she looked in the moonlight, her smooth, soft skin, her long golden hair that spread and blanketed her back, the adorable red hearts on her cheeks that gave the same reflection of her playful, fun-loving personality.

"Please come back, Marco," she moaned again, "I'm cold without you."

He shut the balcony door, walked back to the bed, and crawled back under the covers, Star's arm once again wrapped around his chest. No sooner had he done this than he drifted back into dreamland, this time having much better dreams of what tomorrow would bring for them.

~Epilogue~

Oh, man. Don't we all love those happy ever afters? Too bad they're not really "the end" and your life just keeps going from there for you to face new horrible nightmares. Ah, but we'll let them have their night together. Gotta play the long game here and not let on to the fact that I'm watching them and, for that matter, all their snoopy friends.

You know, old Spade Cheeks served as a pretty good distraction, I'd say. Left a lasting impression on our so called "heroes" at least. They'll now have a frame of reference for what my power is and how I operate, but then again, I'm sure a lot of what I know and do will catch them off guard. It'll be funny to see the looks on their faces when I finally open the portal to my world into Mewni.

I did unfortunately let my guard down around that stupid lizard. I had no idea what kind of power he was actually harnessing with the jewel in his hand, but if he thinks that was enough to eliminate me entirely without me regenerating, he's got another thing coming. I should be thanking him though for showing me what kind of power this Mewni kingdom had.

Anyways, I hear the Ouroboros and White Tiger are paying a visit to my old stomping grounds and finally meeting up with a few of my favorite people: Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Ice Bag, and Llama. They think they're going to all have a nice, safe little gathering among paranormal and magic enthusiasts. Little do they know that I'll be making my big come back very soon, and I'm bringing a few of my friends with me. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

The End…?


End file.
